Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This CVE affects the WordPress Contact Form Email plugin by CodePeople through version 1.3.41. Attackers may bypass captcha controls, reducing protection against automated form abuse. The published impact is limited to functionality bypass and low integrity impact, not data theft or code execution.
Executive priority
Treat as a medium-priority web hygiene issue. It is unlikely to be a breach by itself, but it can weaken anti-abuse controls on public forms and create operational noise or fraud risk.
Technical view
CVE-2023-48318 is a CWE-307 improper restriction of excessive authentication attempts issue in contact-form-to-email. CVSS 3.1 is 5.3: network-accessible, low complexity, unauthenticated, no user interaction, unchanged scope, no confidentiality or availability impact, and low integrity impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to WordPress sites running CodePeople Contact Form Email, package contact-form-to-email, from unspecified initial versions through 1.3.41. Risk is most relevant where the plugin protects public contact forms with captcha.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. The vulnerability is remotely reachable and unauthenticated, so exposed public forms could be abused opportunistically if vulnerable versions remain installed.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE record and Patchstack vulnerability reference. Do not assume a specific fixed version or exploit status from the provided data. Focus validation on version exposure, public form reachability, and captcha-dependent workflows.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory WordPress sites for Contact Form Email plugin installations.
- Identify any installed version at or below 1.3.41.
- Check CodePeople or Patchstack guidance for the corrected release or recommended mitigation.
- Upgrade, disable, or replace affected plugin installations according to vendor guidance.
- Monitor contact-form submissions for abnormal automated activity.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether contact-form-to-email is installed on each WordPress site.
- Record the exact plugin version and compare it with 1.3.41.
- Verify public forms using captcha are not running affected plugin versions.
- Review recent form submissions for unusual volume or repeated automated patterns.
- Document remediation evidence after update, disablement, or replacement.
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-2023-48318 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:N/I:L/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:N/I:L/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:N/I:L/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.