dbcve.org
Yoast SeoWordPress extension · Yoast

CVE-2023-32300

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-08-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 14.8 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Unauth. Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Yoast Yoast SEO: Local plugin <= 14.8 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

An unauthenticated reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists in the Yoast SEO: Local plugin for WordPress versions 14.8 and below. Attackers can inject malicious JavaScript through unsanitized user input that gets reflected back to victims via URL parameters, executing in their browsers when they click a crafted link.

MitigationUpdate the Yoast SEO: Local plugin to a version newer than 14.8 to apply vendor patches; as an interim measure, deploy WAF rules to detect and block XSS payloads in incoming requests.

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
Yoast SeoWordPress extension
Affected:<= 14.8

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
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Confirm Yoast SEO: Local plugin is installed
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Yoast SEO: Local' in the list. Note if it is active or inactive.
    Affected if The plugin is installed and active on the WordPress site.
  2. Identify the installed plugin version
    In the Plugins list, click on 'Yoast SEO: Local' to view the plugin details, or inspect the plugin header in wp-content/plugins/yoast-seo-local/yoast-seo-local.php to find the 'Version' field.
    Affected if The version number is 14.8 or lower.
  3. Verify URL parameter handling is accessible
    Locate PHP files in the plugin directory that handle $_GET, $_REQUEST, or $_POST parameters and reflect them back into HTML output without sanitization (search for echo, print, or print_r combined with request variables).
    Affected if The plugin code reflects unsanitized user input back into the page output.
  4. Confirm the site allows unauthenticated access
    Attempt to access the WordPress site from a browser without logging in, or review server access logs for requests to the affected endpoints from unauthenticated IP addresses.
    Affected if The site is publicly accessible to unauthenticated users who can be tricked into clicking crafted links.

If the Yoast SEO: Local plugin is active at version 14.8 or below and handles URL parameters that get reflected into HTML without sanitization, the site is vulnerable to reflected XSS via unauthenticated users clicking malicious links.

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 a release after 14.8
Interim mitigation

Update the Yoast SEO: Local plugin to a version newer than 14.8 to apply vendor patches; as an interim measure, deploy WAF rules to detect and block XSS payloads in incoming requests.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Yoast SEO: Local plugin version 14.9 or higher, or Yoast SEO plugin 19.0+ (which merged local SEO functionality)

  1. 1. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard
  2. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. 3. Locate 'Yoast SEO: Local' in the plugin list
  4. 4. Check if an update is available for the plugin
  5. 5. If an update is available, click 'Update Now' to install the latest version
  6. 6. If no update appears, manually download the fixed version (14.9 or higher) from the WordPress Plugin Repository
  7. 7. Deactivate and delete the old plugin, then upload and activate the new version
  8. 8. Alternatively, consider migrating to the main Yoast SEO plugin (versions 19.0+) which includes local SEO functionality
Caveat The standalone Yoast SEO: Local plugin has been deprecated; the recommended path is migrating to the main Yoast SEO plugin which now includes local SEO features

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

Fix this in Yoast Seo Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

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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-2023-32300 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