NewsmagWordPress extension · Machothemes
CVE-2023-28493
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 · uneditedAuth (subscriber+) Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Macho Themes NewsMag theme <= 2.4.4 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 confidenceReflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Macho Themes NewsMag WordPress theme affecting versions 2.4.4 and below. The vulnerability requires at least subscriber-level authentication to exploit, allowing an attacker to inject malicious scripts through vulnerable parameters.
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
NewsmagWordPress extension
<= 2.4.4CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if NewsMag theme is installedCheck WordPress wp-content/themes directory for 'newsmag' folder, or view theme list in Appearance > Themes in WordPress adminAffected if NewsMag theme folder exists in the themes directory
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Determine installed NewsMag versionOpen wp-content/themes/newsmag/style.css and locate the 'Version:' header in the file comment block at the topAffected if Version number is 2.4.4 or lower (e.g., 2.4.4, 2.4.3, 2.4.2, etc.)
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Check for subscriber-level user accountsIn WordPress admin, go to Users > All Users and look for any users with 'Subscriber' role, or query the wp_users and wp_usermeta tables for users with wp_capabilities meta containing 'subscriber'Affected if At least one subscriber-level user account exists in the WordPress installation
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Identify vulnerable parameters in theme codeSearch theme PHP files (particularly in template files and functions) for unsanitized use of $_GET, $_POST, or $_REQUEST variables that output to HTML without proper escaping (look for echo or print statements with raw input variables)Affected if Theme code contains parameters that accept user input and reflect it back without sanitization, and those parameters are accessible to subscriber-level users
The environment is affected if the NewsMag theme version is 2.4.4 or below AND subscriber-level user accounts exist, allowing authenticated XSS exploitation.
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 NewsMag theme to a version newer than 2.4.4. If no patched version is available from the vendor, consider migrating to an actively maintained theme or removing the theme entirely.
Fix this in Newsmag
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 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 $2,224.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-28493 — 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-2023-28493 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