Country Access LimitWordPress extension · Ca Ret
CVE-2023-45641
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 · uneditedCross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Caret Inc. Caret Country Access Limit plugin <= 1.0.2 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 confidenceCross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Caret Country Access Limit plugin versions 1.0.2 and below. The vulnerability allows attackers to trick authenticated users into performing unintended actions (likely modifying country access restrictions) via malicious requests, as the plugin lacks proper anti-CSRF token validation on state-changing operations.
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
Country Access LimitWordPress extension
<= 1.0.2CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Verify plugin versionIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and locate 'Caret Country Access Limit' (or 'Ca Ret Country Access Limit') to confirm the installed version number. Alternatively, check the plugin's main PHP file header for the 'Version' field.Affected if The installed version is 1.0.2 or lower.
-
Locate plugin form handlersAccess the plugin files via FTP or file manager and identify PHP files that handle form submissions for modifying country access settings. Look for functions that process POST requests related to country restrictions.Affected if The plugin processes state-changing form submissions without documented nonce verification.
-
Inspect form handlers for nonce validationOpen the identified form handler files and search for WordPress nonce functions such as wp_verify_nonce, check_ajax_referer, wp_create_nonce, or the 'nonce' field in form generation. Check if these are called before any database updates or settings changes.Affected if State-changing operations lack wp_verify_nonce or check_ajax_referer calls, or these checks are missing entirely.
-
Check AJAX handlers for nonce verificationIdentify any AJAX action hooks registered by the plugin (search for 'add_action' with 'wp_ajax'). Verify that each handler calls check_ajax_referer or wp_verify_nonce before processing the request.Affected if AJAX handlers that modify plugin settings do not verify nonces before executing state-changing operations.
-
Review nonce field presence in frontend formsIf the plugin provides frontend forms for users to modify country access settings, inspect the HTML output to determine if a nonce field (wpnonce) is included in those forms.Affected if Forms that modify settings do not contain nonce fields, or the nonce is not validated server-side.
You are affected if the installed version is 1.0.2 or below AND the plugin's form handlers or AJAX endpoints lack proper WordPress nonce verification before processing state-changing operations.
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 WordPress nonces (anti-CSRF tokens) on all forms and AJAX requests that modify plugin settings, and verify these nonces server-side before processing any state-changing operations. Update to the latest plugin version if available.
Fix this in Country Access Limit
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-45641 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-45641 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
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.
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.
- 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