Companion Auto UpdateWordPress extension · Codeermeneer
CVE-2018-20972
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe companion-auto-update plugin before 3.2.1 for WordPress has CSRF.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceThe companion-auto-update plugin before version 3.2.1 for WordPress contains a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability. This allows attackers to craft malicious requests that trick authenticated administrators into performing unintended actions, such as modifying plugin settings or triggering auto-update operations without their explicit consent.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Companion Auto UpdateWordPress extension
< 3.2.1CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Locate the plugin installation directoryAccess your WordPress server via file system or FTP. Navigate to /wp-content/plugins/ and look for a folder named 'companion-auto-update' or similar variant containing 'auto-update' in the name.Affected if The plugin folder exists in the plugins directory.
-
Read the plugin versionOpen the main plugin file (usually the PHP file with the same name as the folder or named 'plugin.php') and locate the plugin header comment which contains the Version field.Affected if The Version field shows a number lower than 3.2.1 (for example, 3.2.0, 3.1.0, 1.0, etc).
-
Verify the plugin is activeLog into the WordPress admin dashboard and go to Plugins > Installed Plugins. Look for the Companion Auto Update entry in the list.Affected if The plugin shows as 'Active' in the plugins list.
-
Check for CSRF protection in plugin code (optional)Examine the plugin PHP files for nonce verification. Look for occurrences of 'wp_verify_nonce' or 'check_ajax_referer' or 'nonce' in form handling and AJAX action handlers.Affected if No nonce verification is found in form submissions or AJAX handlers, or the code appears to lack CSRF tokens.
You are affected if the Companion Auto Update plugin is installed, active, and the installed version is lower than 3.2.1.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor data3.2.1
Update the companion-auto-update plugin to version 3.2.1 or later. If immediate updating is not possible, implement anti-CSRF tokens (nonces) on all form submissions and AJAX actions within the plugin.
Fix this in Companion Auto Update
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,056.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-20972 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-20972 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data