GroundhoggWordPress extension
CVE-2023-34178
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 Groundhogg Inc. Groundhogg plugin <= 2.7.11 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 confidenceCross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Groundhogg WordPress plugin affecting versions 2.7.11 and earlier. The vulnerability allows attackers to trick authenticated users into performing unintended actions through malicious requests, potentially leading to unauthorized data modification or privilege escalation within the plugin.
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
GroundhoggWordPress extension
< 2.7.11.1CVSS 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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Check installed Groundhogg plugin versionLog in to WordPress admin, navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins, find Groundhogg and read the version number from the plugin description. Alternatively, inspect /wp-content/plugins/groundhogg/groundhogg.php and look for the 'Version' header comment.Affected if The version displayed is 2.7.11 or earlier, or if no version is shown but the plugin was installed prior to the security update.
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Verify WordPress user authentication is activeConfirm that the WordPress site has user registration enabled or has existing users with access to the Groundhogg plugin functionality. Check under Settings > General > 'Membership: Anyone can register' setting, or review existing user roles.Affected if The site has authenticated users (administrators, editors, or Groundhogg-specific roles) who can access the plugin's admin dashboard.
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Inspect form submissions for nonce validationExamine the plugin's PHP files in /wp-content/plugins/groundhogg/ for form handlers and AJAX actions. Look for calls to wp_verify_nonce() or check_admin_referer() before processing state-changing requests. Check common action files in the includes/ or actions/ directories.Affected if Form submissions or AJAX actions lack nonce verification, allowing requests to be forged from malicious sites.
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Review .htaccess or security configurationsCheck if the web server has CSRF-specific protections (such as Origin header validation, SameSite cookie attributes, or CSRF tokens at the server level) that might mitigate the vulnerability. Inspect .htaccess or server configuration files.Affected if No additional CSRF protections exist at the server level, leaving the plugin's built-in vulnerabilities exposed.
A user is affected if the Groundhogg plugin version is 2.7.11 or earlier and the site has authenticated users with access to plugin functions without proper nonce protection on state-changing requests.
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 · scoped2.7.11.1
Upgrade the Groundhogg plugin to a version newer than 2.7.11, or implement anti-CSRF tokens on all state-changing form submissions and AJAX actions within the plugin.
Groundhogg version 2.7.11.1
- Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard
- Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
- Find the Groundhogg plugin in the list
- Check if an update to version 2.7.11.1 is available
- If an update is available, click 'Update Now' to install version 2.7.11.1
- Alternatively, navigate to Dashboard > Updates and select Groundhogg for update
- After updating, verify the plugin version shows 2.7.11.1 or higher
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Groundhogg
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 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 $4,480.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-34178 — 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-2023-34178 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