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Advanced Custom FieldsWordPress extension · Advancedcustomfields

CVE-2023-40068

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-08-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 6.1.7 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

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 scripting vulnerability in Advanced Custom Fields versions 6.1.0 to 6.1.7 and Advanced Custom Fields Pro versions 6.1.0 to 6.1.7 allows a remote authenticated attacker to execute an arbitrary script on the web browser of the user who is logging in to the product with the administrative privilege.

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

Stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Advanced Custom Fields and Advanced Custom Fields Pro versions 6.1.0-6.1.7 allows an authenticated administrator to inject malicious JavaScript that executes in the browsers of other users with administrative privileges when they access the affected plugin interface.

MitigationUpdate Advanced Custom Fields/Advanced Custom Fields Pro to version 6.2.0 or later which contains the fix for this vulnerability.

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
Advanced Custom FieldsWordPress extension
Affected:>= 6.1.0, <= 6.1.7

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
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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. Locate the Advanced Custom Fields plugin installation
    Check the wp-content/plugins/ directory for the 'advanced-custom-fields' or 'advanced-custom-fields-pro' folder, or use WordPress admin under Plugins to list installed plugins
    Affected if The plugin folder exists in the WordPress plugins directory
  2. Determine the installed version of Advanced Custom Fields
    Read the main plugin file (e.g., advanced-custom-fields/acf.php or advanced-custom-fields-pro/acf.php) and locate the 'Version:' header in the file comments, or check the WordPress Plugins admin page version column
    Affected if The version number returned is 6.1.0, 6.1.1, 6.1.2, 6.1.3, 6.1.4, 6.1.5, 6.1.6, or 6.1.7
  3. Confirm the plugin is active
    Verify the plugin is enabled in the WordPress admin under Plugins, or check the wp_options table for active_plugins entry containing 'advanced-custom-fields'
    Affected if The plugin is both installed and active with a version in the affected range

You are affected if Advanced Custom Fields or Advanced Custom Fields Pro version 6.1.0 through 6.1.7 is installed and active in your WordPress environment.

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 6.1.7
Interim mitigation

Update Advanced Custom Fields/Advanced Custom Fields Pro to version 6.2.0 or later which contains the fix for this vulnerability.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Upgrade to Advanced Custom Fields version 6.2.0 or later (latest stable version)

  1. 1. Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard with administrator privileges
  2. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. 3. Locate 'Advanced Custom Fields' (or 'Advanced Custom Fields Pro') in the plugin list
  4. 4. If an update is available, click 'Update Now' to install the latest version
  5. 5. Alternatively, download the latest version from wordpress.org/plugins/advanced-custom-fields/ and upload it via Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin
  6. 6. After updating, clear any caching plugins if used
  7. 7. Verify the update was successful by checking the plugin version in Plugins > Installed Plugins
Caveat Review plugin settings after upgrade as minor interface changes may exist between 6.1.x and 6.2.x

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

Fix this in Advanced Custom Fields Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,376.

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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-2023-40068 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