Simple SeoWordPress extension · Coleds
CVE-2022-36404
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 · uneditedMissing Authorization, Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in David Cole Simple SEO (WordPress plugin) plugin <= 1.8.12 versions.
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 confidenceThis is a combined CSRF and missing authorization vulnerability in the Simple SEO WordPress plugin. An attacker could craft malicious requests that, when triggered by an authenticated administrator session, could bypass authorization checks to perform unintended SEO configuration changes or other administrative actions.
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
Simple SeoWordPress extension
<= 1.8.12CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L
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.
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Verify Simple SEO plugin is installedIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Simple SEO' or 'Coleds Simple Seo'. Alternatively, check the file /wp-content/plugins/simple-seo/ for existence.Affected if The plugin is present in the plugins directory
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Check installed plugin versionIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins > Simple SEO and view the version number displayed. Alternatively, check /wp-content/plugins/simple-seo/simple-seo.php for the 'Version' header in the plugin comment block.Affected if Version is 1.8.12 or lower
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Inspect admin action handlersExamine the main plugin PHP file (usually simple-seo.php) for admin action hooks like 'admin_post_*', 'admin_init', or AJAX handlers that process settings changes without checking nonces or user capabilities.Affected if Action handlers exist that process settings without wp_nonce verification or current_user_can() checks
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Check for authorization logic in settings endpointsReview plugin code for functions that handle SEO configuration updates (options.php, save settings, update meta). Look for missing current_user_can('manage_options') or similar capability checks before processing requests.Affected if Settings endpoints process requests without capability verification
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Test for CSRF protection on sensitive actionsSearch plugin PHP files for usage of wp_verify_nonce(), check_admin_referer(), or other nonce validation functions in code paths that handle SEO settings updates or administrative changes.Affected if No nonce validation is found before processing administrative changes
If the Simple SEO plugin version is 1.8.12 or lower and the plugin handles admin actions without proper nonce verification or capability checks, the environment is affected by this vulnerability.
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 dataUpdate the Simple SEO plugin to a version newer than 1.8.12, which should include proper CSRF token validation and authorization checks for sensitive operations.
Fix this in Simple Seo
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-36404 — 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-2022-36404 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
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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