WP Meta SEO <= 4.5.3 - Missing Authorization in 'checkAllCategoryInSitemap'
The WP Meta SEO plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized sitemap generation due to a missing capability check on the checkAllCategoryInSitemap function in versions up to, and including, 4.5.3. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with subscriber-level access to obtain post categories. This vulnerability occurred as a result of the plugin relying on nonce checks as a means of access control, and that nonce being accessible to all authenticated users regardless of role.
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for the hundreds of thousands of vulnerabilities in the database; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.
We use this product, ask for help- Published
- Feb 28, 2023
- Updated
- Jun 17, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.5% · 39th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-862
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Report tools
Action score
17
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 17 / 40 · 4.3 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.5%
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
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.
Affected systems
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| joomunited | wp meta seo | cpe:2.3:a:joomunited:wp_meta_seo |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- joomunited wp meta seoup to 4.5.3 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.
joomunited WP Meta SEO
- up to and including 4.5.3affected · semver
Same product
joomunited: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2023-1381WP Meta SEO < 4.5.5 - Author+ PHAR Deserialization36Monitor
- CVE-2023-0875WP Meta SEO < 4.5.3 - Subscriber+ SQLi35Monitor
- CVE-2026-9643WP Meta SEO <= 4.5.18 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via REQUEST_URI in 404 Logging28Monitor
- CVE-2026-11370WP Meta SEO <= 4.5.18 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Server-Side Request Forgery via 'new_link' Parameter25Monitor
- CVE-2023-6961WP Meta SEO <= 4.5.12 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Referer header24Monitor
- CVE-2023-0876WP Meta SEO < 4.5.3 - Subscriber+ Improper Authorization causing Arbitrary Redirect24Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.
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.
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.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
- Marco Wotschkafinder
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
- low · data can be read
- Integrity
- none
- Availability
- none
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- Low
- Integrity impact
- None
- Availability impact
- None
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-862 · Missing AuthorizationCVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/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
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.
References
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/2870465/wp-meta-seo/trunk?contextall=1&old=2869205&old_path=%2Fwp-meta-seo%2Ftrunk#file2
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=2870465%40wp-meta-seo&new=2870465%40wp-meta-seo&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=
- www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/4f589e21-7417-4b43-b580-4f1d3c2041f4?source=cve
- www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/4f589e21-7417-4b43-b580-4f1d3c2041f4
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.