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Image Hover Effects For Wpbakery Page BuilderWordPress extension · Webdevocean

CVE-2023-23681

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-03-30
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.0 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

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 · unedited
Auth. (contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Labib Ahmed Image Hover Effects For WPBakery Page Builder plugin <= 4.0 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 · high confidence

Authenticated (contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability in the Labib Ahmed Image Hover Effects For WPBakery Page Builder WordPress plugin versions 4.0 and below. The plugin fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input in its image hover effect settings, allowing malicious JavaScript to be stored in the database and executed when other users view the affected content.

MitigationUpdate the plugin to the latest version which includes proper input sanitization and output escaping. If no update is available, implement manual sanitization (sanitize_text_field, esc_attr) on all user inputs before database storage and escaping (esc_html, esc_js) on output.

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
Image Hover Effects For Wpbakery Page BuilderWordPress extension
Affected:< 5.0

CVSS 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
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check the installed plugin version
    Navigate to WordPress Admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins and locate 'Webdevocean Image Hover Effects For Wpbakery Page Builder' (also listed as 'Labib Ahmed Image Hover Effects For WPBakery Page Builder'). Note the version number displayed.
    Affected if The version listed is below 5.0 (for example, 4.0, 3.9, 2.5, etc.)
  2. Confirm the plugin is active
    In the same plugins list, verify whether the plugin shows as 'Active' under the status column.
    Affected if The plugin is active and the version is below 5.0
  3. Identify pages or posts using image hover effects
    Search your WordPress posts, pages, or custom post types for shortcodes associated with this plugin. Common patterns include [image_hover_effect], [ihe], or similar shortcodes that invoke the plugin functionality. Check the content editor view or inspect the database wp_posts table for entries containing these shortcodes.
    Affected if Active usage of the plugin's shortcodes is found on your site, combined with a version below 5.0
  4. Inspect stored settings for unsanitized input
    If you have database access, examine the wp_postmeta table for meta_key values related to the plugin (often containing 'image_hover' or similar). Review the meta_value field for any raw HTML, JavaScript tags, or script attributes that were saved without sanitization.
    Affected if Meta entries contain unescaped HTML tags, script elements, or event handlers (onclick, onerror, etc.) in fields associated with this plugin's shortcodes

Your environment is affected if the Webdevocean Image Hover Effects For Wpbakery Page Builder plugin is installed, active, and running a version below 5.0, with content using its shortcode functionality.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.0 or later
Fixed in 5.0
Interim mitigation

Update the plugin to the latest version which includes proper input sanitization and output escaping. If no update is available, implement manual sanitization (sanitize_text_field, esc_attr) on all user inputs before database storage and escaping (esc_html, esc_js) on output.

Recommended fix High confidence

version 5.0

  1. Backup your WordPress site before making any changes
  2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins in the WordPress admin dashboard
  3. Find 'Image Hover Effects For Wpbakery Page Builder' in the plugin list
  4. Click 'Update now' if an update is available, or manually upload version 5.0 from the WordPress plugin repository
  5. Verify the plugin updated successfully to version 5.0 or higher
  6. Test that the Image Hover Effects functionality works correctly after the update

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Image Hover Effects For Wpbakery Page Builder Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,744.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-23681 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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