dbcve.org
Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2023-41849

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-12-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
Missing Authorization vulnerability in WP Happy Coders Posts Like Dislike allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects Posts Like Dislike: from n/a through 1.1.0.

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

This is a Missing Authorization vulnerability in the WP Happy Coders Posts Like Dislike WordPress plugin. The plugin fails to properly enforce access control checks, allowing attackers to exploit incorrectly configured security levels to perform actions that should require proper authorization. This could enable unauthenticated or unauthorized users to manipulate post like/dislike counts or access functionality they should not have access to.

MitigationUpdate the Posts Like Dislike plugin to the latest version which should include proper authorization checks. If no update is available, manually audit the plugin code to identify all AJAX actions and callback functions missing capability checks or nonce validation, then add appropriate authorization controls using WordPress capability checks (e.g., current_user_can()) and nonce verification.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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. Confirm plugin is installed
    Navigate to WordPress admin dashboard > Plugins and verify the 'Posts Like Dislike' plugin by WP Happy Coders is listed as active
    Affected if The Posts Like Dislike plugin is active in WordPress
  2. Identify installed version
    In Plugins list, click on the plugin name or view the plugin header comment in wp-content/plugins/posts-like-dislike/folder-name.php to find the Version: X.X.X declaration
    Affected if Installed version is older than the patched version (you must compare against the vendor's current version release)
  3. Inspect AJAX action handlers for capability checks
    Examine the main plugin PHP file and any AJAX-related files. Search for 'add_action' calls with 'wp_ajax_' or 'wp_ajax_nopriv_' hooks. For each handler, verify if 'current_user_can()' or similar capability checks are present before processing the request
    Affected if AJAX action handlers process requests without verifying user capabilities (e.g., no current_user_can() call before executing the action)
  4. Check for nonce validation in AJAX handlers
    In the same AJAX handler functions identified above, search for 'check_ajax_referer' or 'wp_verify_nonce' calls to confirm nonce tokens are being validated
    Affected if AJAX handlers accept requests without nonce verification (unauthenticated or unauthenticated users can trigger actions)
  5. Test unauthenticated access to like/dislike functionality
    Using a browser or HTTP tool, attempt to send a POST request to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action parameters matching the plugin's like/dislike actions (e.g., action=posts_like_dislike_like) without providing authentication cookies or valid nonces
    Affected if The server processes the like/dislike request and returns success without requiring authentication

You are affected if the Posts Like Dislike plugin is active and its AJAX handlers lack capability checks or nonce validation, allowing unauthenticated users to manipulate like/dislike counts.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update the Posts Like Dislike plugin to the latest version which should include proper authorization checks. If no update is available, manually audit the plugin code to identify all AJAX actions and callback functions missing capability checks or nonce validation, then add appropriate authorization controls using WordPress capability checks (e.g., current_user_can()) and nonce verification.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,840
Get help mitigating

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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-2023-41849 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