CVE-2023-3756
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 · uneditedA vulnerability was found in Creativeitem Atlas Business Directory Listing 2.13 and classified as problematic. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the file /home/search. The manipulation of the argument search_string leads to cross site scripting. The attack may be launched remotely. The identifier of this vulnerability is VDB-234428. NOTE: The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.
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 confidenceA reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists in the Creativeitem Atlas Business Directory Listing plugin version 2.13. The /home/search endpoint reflects user-supplied input from the search_string parameter without proper sanitization or output encoding, allowing injection of malicious script tags.
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= 2.13CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify the Creativeitem Atlas plugin versionLocate the plugin files or check the plugin metadata (typically in the plugin's main PHP file header, composer.json, or WordPress plugin registry) to confirm the installed version is exactly 2.13Affected if The installed version is 2.13 - earlier versions are not affected by this specific CVE and later versions may have the fix applied
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Confirm the /home/search endpoint existsCheck the plugin's routing configuration or main routing file to verify a route handler exists for /home/search or a similar search pathAffected if The search endpoint exists and is accessible to users (the vulnerability requires this endpoint to be active)
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Inspect how the search_string parameter is processedExamine the code handling the /home/search endpoint - look for the search_string parameter handling and verify whether output encoding (such as htmlspecialchars with ENT_QUOTES) or input sanitization is applied before reflecting the value in the responseAffected if The search_string parameter is reflected in the HTML response without htmlspecialchars/ENT_QUOTES encoding or equivalent sanitization - this indicates the vulnerability is present
You are affected if the plugin version is exactly 2.13 and the /home/search endpoint reflects the search_string parameter without proper HTML entity encoding.
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 dataImplement proper input validation and output encoding for the search_string parameter. Use context-appropriate escaping (HTML entity encoding for HTML context) or deploy a web application firewall as a compensating control until the code fix is applied.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-3756 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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