Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This is a CAPTCHA bypass issue in a WordPress plugin used with Contact Form 7. An unauthenticated remote attacker may bypass the intended anti-automation protection, reducing confidence that form submissions are human. Business impact is mainly increased spam, abusive submissions, or degraded lead quality, not full site compromise based on the provided sources.
Executive priority
Treat as a moderate-priority WordPress exposure. It should be remediated in normal maintenance windows, faster for high-volume public forms or forms feeding sales, support, or security workflows.
Technical view
CVE-2023-45009 affects Forge12 Interactive GmbH Captcha/Honeypot for Contact Form 7 through version 1.11.3. The source classifies it as CWE-307 with CVSS 3.1 score 5.3, network reachable, low complexity, no privileges, no user interaction, and limited confidentiality impact.
Likely exposure
Public WordPress sites using Contact Form 7 with captcha-for-contact-form-7 through version 1.11.3 are the likely exposure set. Sites not using this plugin are not indicated as affected in the supplied sources.
Exploitation context
The CVE source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. The vulnerability is externally reachable and unauthenticated by CVSS, but the provided material does not include exploit details or confirmed exploitation.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE metadata and Patchstack advisory reference. The bundle identifies affected versions through 1.11.3 but does not provide a confirmed fixed version, exploit status, or detailed technical root cause.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory WordPress sites for captcha-for-contact-form-7 installations.
- Identify any installed versions at or below 1.11.3.
- Check Forge12, WordPress plugin, or Patchstack guidance for a fixed release.
- Update or replace the plugin according to verified vendor guidance.
- Monitor affected forms for abnormal automated or spam submissions.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether each WordPress site uses Captcha/Honeypot for Contact Form 7.
- Record the installed plugin version and compare it with 1.11.3.
- Confirm whether public forms depend on this plugin for anti-automation control.
- Review recent form submission patterns for unusual volume or suspicious automation.
- Recheck vendor or Patchstack advisories for remediation status before closure.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-307: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2023-45009 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 5.3 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N3.91.4Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5.3MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
Source materials
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts
Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.