dbcve.org
Affiliates ManagerWordPress extension · Wpaffiliatemanager

CVE-2023-28986

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-07-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.9.21 or later.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges

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
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in wp.Insider, wpaffiliatemgr Affiliates Manager plugin <= 2.9.20 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 confidence

Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Affiliates Manager plugin for WordPress allows attackers to induce authenticated users to perform unintended actions by tricking them into visiting malicious links or pages. The lack of anti-CSRF tokens or referrer validation in the plugin's administrative functions enables attackers to forge requests on behalf of logged-in administrators.

MitigationUpdate the Affiliates Manager plugin to a version higher than 2.9.20, which should include proper anti-CSRF token validation and referrer checks for all state-changing operations.

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
Affiliates ManagerWordPress extension
Affected:< 2.9.21

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
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 checks

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

  1. Verify Affiliates Manager plugin is installed
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Affiliates Manager' or 'Affiliates Manager (Wpaffiliatemanager)' in the list. Alternatively, check the /wp-content/plugins/ directory for a folder named 'affiliates-manager' or similar.
    Affected if The plugin appears in the installed plugins list
  2. Check the installed version number
    In WordPress admin, find the Affiliates Manager plugin in Plugins > Installed Plugins and note the version number displayed below the plugin name. Or check the main plugin PHP file (e.g., affiliates-manager.php) for the 'Version' header in the plugin comment block.
    Affected if The version number is less than 2.9.21 (e.g., 2.9.20, 2.9.19, etc.)
  3. Confirm the plugin is active
    In Plugins > Installed Plugins, verify that the Affiliates Manager plugin shows as 'Active' (not 'Inactive' or 'Must Use').
    Affected if The plugin is active on the WordPress site
  4. Identify state-changing admin functions without CSRF protection
    Review plugin source code in /wp-content/plugins/affiliates-manager/ for form submissions and admin action hooks. Look for absence of wp_nonce_field() or check_admin_referer() calls in functions that modify settings, add/edit affiliates, or change plugin configuration.
    Affected if State-changing operations (like saving settings, adding affiliates) lack nonce verification or referrer checks in the code

A user is affected if the Affiliates Manager plugin is installed, active, and running version 2.9.20 or lower.

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 2.9.21 or later
Fixed in 2.9.21
Interim mitigation

Update the Affiliates Manager plugin to a version higher than 2.9.20, which should include proper anti-CSRF token validation and referrer checks for all state-changing operations.

Recommended fix High confidence

2.9.21

  1. Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. Locate the Affiliates Manager (wpaffiliatemgr) plugin
  4. Click 'Update now' if an update is available, or manually download version 2.9.21 from the WordPress plugin repository and upload it
  5. Verify the plugin version shows 2.9.21 or higher after updating
  6. Test critical affiliate tracking functionality to ensure the update did not break expected behavior

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

Fix this in Affiliates Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.

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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-2023-28986 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