dbcve.org
WpdiscuzWordPress extension · Gvectors

CVE-2023-3998

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-10-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 7.6.3 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
The wpDiscuz plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data due to a missing authorization check on the userRate function in versions up to, and including, 7.6.3. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to increase or decrease the rating of a post.

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 confidence

The wpDiscuz WordPress plugin has a missing authorization check in its userRate function. This allows unauthenticated attackers to arbitrarily increase or decrease comment/post ratings by directly calling the vulnerable function without any authentication or authorization validation.

MitigationUpdate wpDiscuz to version 7.6.4 or later, which includes proper authorization checks on the userRate function to ensure only authorized users can modify ratings.

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
WpdiscuzWordPress extension
Affected:<= 7.6.3

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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. Locate the wpDiscuz plugin installation
    Check the /wp-content/plugins/ directory for the wpdiscuz folder, or query the WordPress database in wp_options for the active_plugins entry containing 'wpdiscuz'
    Affected if The plugin folder exists and the plugin is active in WordPress
  2. Determine the installed wpDiscuz version
    Open the plugin's main file (wpdiscuz.php) or readme.txt and locate the Version header, or query the WordPress database in wp_options for the option_name 'wpdiscuz_version'
    Affected if The reported version is 7.6.3 or lower
  3. Confirm rating functionality is enabled
    Access wpDiscuz settings in WordPress admin under wpDiscuz > Settings > Rating and check if rating options are enabled, or query the wp_options table for wpdiscuz_options and check if rating-related settings are present and set to 1
    Affected if Rating functionality is enabled in the plugin settings (this is required for the vulnerable userRate function to be accessible)
  4. Verify the userRate AJAX endpoint is exposed
    Check if the wp-admin/admin-ajax.php endpoint responds to a POST request with action=wpdiscuzUserRate (no authentication required for the vulnerable version), or inspect the plugin code for the userRate function to confirm it lacks authorization checks
    Affected if The AJAX action 'wpdiscuzUserRate' is registered and accessible without authentication

A user is affected if wpDiscuz version 7.6.3 or lower is installed and active with rating functionality enabled, as the missing authorization in the userRate function allows unauthenticated rating manipulation.

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 7.6.3
Interim mitigation

Update wpDiscuz to version 7.6.4 or later, which includes proper authorization checks on the userRate function to ensure only authorized users can modify ratings.

Recommended fix High confidence

wpDiscuz 7.6.4 or later

  1. 1. Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. 3. Locate the wpDiscuz plugin in the list
  4. 4. If an update is available, click 'Update Now' to upgrade to the latest version
  5. 5. Alternatively, navigate to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin and upload the latest version from the WordPress plugin repository
  6. 6. After updating, verify the plugin is running version 7.6.4 or higher

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

Fix this in Wpdiscuz Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,210
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,936.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-3998 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2023-3998 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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