Replace WordWordPress extension · Replace Word Project

CVE-2023-37973

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-07-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.1 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 David Pokorny Replace Word plugin <= 2.1 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 Replace Word plugin for WordPress. The flaw allows remote attackers to trick authenticated administrators into unknowingly executing unintended actions via crafted requests, as the plugin lacks proper CSRF token validation on sensitive operations.

MitigationUpdate the Replace Word plugin to a version newer than 2.1, which should include proper CSRF token validation. Until patched, monitor admin actions and consider disabling the plugin if not essential.

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
Replace WordWordPress extension
Affected:<= 2.1

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 Replace Word plugin is installed
    Navigate to WordPress admin dashboard > Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Replace Word' in the list
    Affected if Replace Word plugin appears in the installed plugins list
  2. Check the installed version of Replace Word
    In the Plugins list, find Replace Word and view the version number under the plugin name, or check the plugin's main PHP file header for 'Version:' value
    Affected if Version is 2.1 or lower
  3. Confirm the plugin is active
    In the Plugins list, verify that Replace Word shows as 'Active' under its status
    Affected if Plugin status is Active (vulnerability requires authenticated admin session)
  4. Identify sensitive Replace Word operations
    Access the plugin settings page (typically under Settings > Replace Word) and note if there are forms for bulk text replacement, save operations, or import/export features without visible CSRF token fields
    Affected if Plugin has admin-facing forms or actions without visible anti-CSRF token inputs (token may be hidden in HTML source)

User is affected if the Replace Word plugin version 2.1 or lower is installed and active on their WordPress site, exposing admin actions to CSRF attacks.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2.1
Interim mitigation

Update the Replace Word plugin to a version newer than 2.1, which should include proper CSRF token validation. Until patched, monitor admin actions and consider disabling the plugin if not essential.

Fix this in Replace Word Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-37973 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-37973 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