Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2023-49837 is a resource-consumption denial-of-service issue in the WordPress Code Embed plugin through 2.3.6. It can affect site availability, not data confidentiality or integrity. Treat it as a moderate operational risk for WordPress sites that use this plugin, especially public sites where downtime has business impact.
Executive priority
Prioritize this for WordPress properties that rely on Code Embed and have high availability requirements. It is not a data theft issue based on the sources, but service disruption can still affect revenue, customer trust, and operations.
Technical view
The sources describe CWE-400 uncontrolled resource consumption in David Artiss Code Embed, package simple-embed-code, through version 2.3.6. CVSS 3.1 is 6.5: network attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, unchanged scope, high availability impact, and no confidentiality or integrity impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to WordPress installations running the Code Embed plugin at version 2.3.6 or earlier. The source bundle does not identify affected CPEs, fixed versions, hosting configurations, or whether only particular plugin settings are vulnerable.
Exploitation context
The CVSS vector indicates remote network reachability with low privileges required and no user interaction. The source bundle marks KEV as false and provides no cited evidence of active exploitation, public exploit availability, or real-world incident use.
Researcher notes
Evidence is sparse beyond CVE metadata and Patchstack attribution. The key validated facts are product, version range through 2.3.6, CWE-400, and CVSS availability impact. Do not assume unauthenticated exploitation, affected roles, exploit maturity, or a specific patch version without additional vendor evidence.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory WordPress sites for the Code Embed plugin and record installed versions.
- Check official vendor and Patchstack guidance for a fixed release or recommended mitigation.
- Apply an official update if one is available and compatible.
- Disable or remove the plugin where it is not business-critical.
- Monitor affected sites for availability degradation and abnormal resource use.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether Code Embed is installed on each WordPress site.
- Verify whether installed versions are 2.3.6 or earlier.
- Review plugin change logs or vendor advisories for remediation status.
- Validate any update or removal in staging before production rollout.
- Track uptime, server resource metrics, and WordPress error logs after mitigation.
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-400: 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-2023-49837 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
- 6.5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
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:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H2.83.6Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
6.5MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
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.
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.