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CVE-2023-0993· NVD / CVE Program· CNA Wordfence

Shield Security <= 17.0.17 - Missing Authorization

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 17/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.55% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • Fixed version: paultgoodchild Shield: Blocks Bots, Protects Users, and Prevents Security Breaches 17.0.18.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to paultgoodchild Shield: Blocks Bots, Protects Users, and Prevents Security Breaches 17.0.18 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

The Shield Security plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Missing Authorization on the 'theme-plugin-file' AJAX action in versions up to, and including, 17.0.17. This allows authenticated attackers to add arbitrary audit log entries indicating that a theme or plugin has been edited, and is also a vector for Cross-Site Scripting via CVE-2023-0992.

MediumCVSS 4.3 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available
Published
Jun 9, 2023
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
0.6% · 44th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

17

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
17 / 40 · 4.3 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.6%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
4.3
CNA · Wordfence
4.3
agree

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Is Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning on your site?

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Follow CVE-2023-0993

Is Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning on your site?

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
getshieldsecurityshield security

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • getshieldsecurity shield securityup to 17.0.17 inclusive

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (Wordfence). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • paultgoodchild Shield: Blocks Bots, Protects Users, and Prevents Security Breaches

    • before 17.0.18affected · semver

Same product

getshieldsecurity: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2023-6989Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking & Intrusion Prevention Security <= 18.5.9 - Unauthenticated Local File Inclusion
    56Plan
  • CVE-2023-0992Shield Security <= 17.0.17 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting
    52Plan
  • CVE-2024-7313Shield Security < 20.0.6 - Reflected XSS
    24Monitor
  • CVE-2024-22163WordPress Shield Security Plugin <= 18.5.7 is vulnerable to Cross Site Scripting (XSS)
    24Monitor
  • CVE-2022-0211Shield Security < 13.0.6 - Admin+ Stored Cross-Site Scripting
    19Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
paultgoodchild Shield: Blocks Bots, Protects Users, and Prevents Security Breaches17.0.18Vendor (CNA)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • A low-privileged account is enough.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
none
Integrity
low · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
none
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
None
Integrity impact
Low
Availability impact
None

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-862 · Missing Authorization

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Show all references (3 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records