CVE-2023-27460
📋 TL;DR
This CVE describes a Missing Authorization vulnerability in the WordPress CP Contact Form with PayPal plugin. It allows unauthenticated attackers to submit feedback forms without proper authorization, potentially enabling spam or malicious content submission. All WordPress sites using affected plugin versions are vulnerable.
💻 Affected Systems
- WordPress CP Contact Form with PayPal plugin
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could flood the site with malicious form submissions, potentially leading to denial of service, data corruption, or injection of malicious content that could affect site visitors.
Likely Case
Spam form submissions, unauthorized data collection through feedback forms, and potential reputation damage to the affected website.
If Mitigated
With proper authorization controls, only legitimate users can submit forms, preventing unauthorized submissions while maintaining normal functionality.
🎯 Exploit Status
Missing authorization vulnerabilities typically require minimal technical skill to exploit.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.3.35 or later
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins → Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'CP Contact Form with PayPal'. 4. Click 'Update Now' if available. 5. Alternatively, download version 1.3.35+ from WordPress repository and manually update.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable vulnerable plugin
allTemporarily disable the CP Contact Form with PayPal plugin until patched
wp plugin deactivate cp-contact-form-with-paypal
Restrict form access via .htaccess
linuxAdd IP restrictions to form submission endpoints
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
Allow from 192.168.1.0/24
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to block unauthorized form submissions
- Monitor and rate-limit form submission endpoints
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin → Plugins → Installed Plugins for CP Contact Form with PayPal versionCheck Version:
wp plugin get cp-contact-form-with-paypal --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify plugin version is 1.3.35 or higher in WordPress admin panel📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual volume of form submissions from single IPs
- Form submissions without corresponding user sessions
Network Indicators:
- HTTP POST requests to /wp-content/plugins/cp-contact-form-with-paypal/ endpoints without authentication
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND uri="/wp-content/plugins/cp-contact-form-with-paypal/" AND method="POST" AND NOT user_agent="WordPress/*"🔗 References
- https://patchstack.com/database/vulnerability/cp-contact-form-with-paypal/wordpress-cp-contact-form-with-paypal-plugin-1-3-34-missing-authorization-leading-to-feedback-submission-vulnerability?_s_id=cve
- https://patchstack.com/database/vulnerability/cp-contact-form-with-paypal/wordpress-cp-contact-form-with-paypal-plugin-1-3-34-missing-authorization-leading-to-feedback-submission-vulnerability?_s_id=cve
