dbcve.org
Comments RatingWordPress extension · Pixelgrade

CVE-2023-45654

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-10-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.1.7 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 Pixelgrade Comments Ratings plugin <= 1.1.7 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 Pixelgrade Comments Ratings WordPress plugin versions 1.1.7 and below allows attackers to trick authenticated users into performing unintended actions by forging requests, leveraging the lack of proper anti-CSRF token validation on sensitive operations.

MitigationUpdate the Pixelgrade Comments Ratings plugin to the latest version which includes proper anti-CSRF token validation, or implement nonce/token verification on all state-changing actions within the plugin.

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
Comments RatingWordPress extension
Affected:<= 1.1.7

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
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. Check if Pixelgrade Comments Ratings plugin is installed
    Log into WordPress admin dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins, and search for 'Comments Rating' or 'Pixelgrade' to see if the plugin is present
    Affected if the plugin appears in the installed plugins list
  2. Identify the installed plugin version
    In the Plugins list, locate Pixelgrade Comments Ratings and view the version number displayed beneath the plugin name. Alternatively, check the main plugin PHP file (usually in wp-content/plugins/pixelgrade-comments-rating/) for the 'Version' header comment
    Affected if the version displayed is 1.1.7 or lower
  3. Confirm the plugin is active
    In WordPress admin under Plugins > Installed Plugins, verify that Pixelgrade Comments Ratings shows as 'Active' rather than 'Inactive'
    Affected if the plugin status is Active and the version is 1.1.7 or below (CSRF attacks require an authenticated session to be exploitable)
  4. Review plugin code for anti-CSRF nonce implementation (optional deeper check)
    If you have file access, examine the plugin's PHP files handling form submissions or state-changing actions (typically in the main plugin file or handlers folder) and search for 'wp_verify_nonce' or 'check_admin_referer' function calls
    Affected if no nonce verification is found in the plugin's action handlers and version is 1.1.7 or below

Your environment is affected if Pixelgrade Comments Ratings plugin is installed with version 1.1.7 or below and the plugin is active, since attackers can forge requests via CSRF to trick authenticated users into performing unintended actions.

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 1.1.7
Interim mitigation

Update the Pixelgrade Comments Ratings plugin to the latest version which includes proper anti-CSRF token validation, or implement nonce/token verification on all state-changing actions within the plugin.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Latest available version from the WordPress plugin repository (version > 1.1.7)

  1. 1. Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. 3. Locate the 'Comments Rating' (or 'Pixelgrade Comments Ratings') plugin
  4. 4. If an update is available, click 'Update Now' to upgrade to the latest version
  5. 5. Verify the plugin was updated to a version higher than 1.1.7
  6. 6. Test the comment submission functionality to ensure the plugin still works correctly

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

Fix this in Comments Rating Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

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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-2023-45654 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