Creative MailWordPress extension · Constantcontact
CVE-2022-40686
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 · uneditedCross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Creative Mail plugin <= 1.5.4 on WordPress.
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 confidenceCross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Creative Mail WordPress plugin (version 1.5.4 and below) allows attackers to trick authenticated administrators into performing unintended actions by forcing their browser to send malicious requests. The vulnerability stems from missing or improper CSRF token validation on plugin admin actions, potentially allowing account takeover or configuration changes.
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
Creative MailWordPress extension
< 1.6.0CVSS 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:3.1/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.
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Locate the Creative Mail plugin versionIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and find 'Creative Mail' or 'Constant Contact Creative Mail' in the list. The version number appears below the plugin name.Affected if The displayed version is below 1.6.0 (for example, 1.5.4, 1.5.3, etc.)
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Verify version via plugin filesAccess your WordPress site files via FTP or file manager. Navigate to wp-content/plugins/creative-mail and open the main plugin file (usually creative-mail.php or similar). Look for the 'Version' header in the plugin comment block.Affected if The Version header shows a number lower than 1.6.0
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Check plugin file for nonce implementationIn the plugin directory, examine PHP files that handle admin actions (often in includes/ or src/ folders). Search for 'wp_nonce_field', 'wp_verify_nonce', or 'check_admin_referer' function calls within form handlers and AJAX actions.Affected if Admin action files lack nonce validation checks entirely or contain non-functional nonce verification
You are affected if the Creative Mail plugin version is below 1.6.0 and admin actions lack proper WordPress nonce validation.
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.
dbcve · scoped1.6.0
Update Creative Mail plugin to the latest version. Additionally, ensure all plugin forms and AJAX actions implement WordPress nonces for request validation.
1.6.0 or later
- Backup your WordPress site before making any changes
- Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins in the WordPress admin dashboard
- Locate the Creative Mail plugin in the list
- Click 'Update now' if an update is available, or manually update to version 1.6.0 or higher
- After updating, verify the plugin version is 1.6.0 or later in the plugins list
- Test that Creative Mail functionality works correctly after the update
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Creative Mail
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 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 $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-40686 — 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-2022-40686 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