dbcve.org
Ultimate Taxonomy ManagerWordPress extension · Xydac

CVE-2023-45836

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-10-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.0 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 XYDAC Ultimate Taxonomy Manager plugin <= 2.0 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 XYDAC Ultimate Taxonomy Manager WordPress plugin versions 2.0 and below. The plugin lacks proper CSRF token validation on taxonomy management actions, allowing authenticated administrators to be tricked into performing unintended modifications (creating, editing, or deleting taxonomies) via malicious requests.

MitigationUpdate to a patched version if available. If no update exists, add WordPress nonces to all form submissions and AJAX actions within the plugin to verify request origin and intent.

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
Ultimate Taxonomy ManagerWordPress extension
Affected:<= 2.0

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. Confirm plugin installation and version
    Navigate to WordPress admin dashboard > Plugins > Installed Plugins. Locate 'XYDAC Ultimate Taxonomy Manager' and check the version number displayed. Compare it against the affected range ( <= 2.0 ).
    Affected if The plugin version is 2.0 or lower.
  2. Verify plugin is active
    In the same Plugins screen, confirm the plugin is activated. An inactive plugin would not be exploitable via CSRF.
    Affected if The plugin is activated and accessible in the WordPress admin.
  3. Inspect admin form actions for nonce presence
    Navigate to the plugin's taxonomy management section (usually under XYDAC > Ultimate Taxonomy or similar admin menu). View page source or use browser developer tools to inspect taxonomy creation/editing forms. Look for a hidden input field named '_wpnonce' or 'nonce' or check if the form action includes a nonce parameter.
    Affected if The taxonomy management forms lack a CSRF protection nonce token in the form markup.
  4. Check AJAX actions for nonce verification
    Using browser developer tools (Network tab), trigger a taxonomy-related AJAX action (create, edit, delete). Inspect the request headers or payload for a nonce parameter. Also examine the plugin's PHP AJAX handlers for 'check_ajax_referer' or 'wp_verify_nonce' function calls.
    Affected if AJAX requests for taxonomy management do not send a valid nonce and the server-side code lacks nonce verification.
  5. Review plugin PHP source for CSRF protections
    Access the plugin files via file manager or FTP. Examine the main plugin PHP file (usually xydac-ultimate-taxonomy.php or similar) and files handling taxonomy operations. Search for presence of 'wp_nonce_field', 'wp_verify_nonce', 'check_admin_referer', or 'check_ajax_referer' calls before any taxonomy create/edit/delete database operations.
    Affected if The code handling taxonomy modifications does not perform server-side nonce verification before processing requests.

You are affected if XYDAC Ultimate Taxonomy Manager version 2.0 or lower is installed and active, and the taxonomy management forms and AJAX actions lack proper CSRF nonce validation in both client-side markup and server-side code.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2.0
Interim mitigation

Update to a patched version if available. If no update exists, add WordPress nonces to all form submissions and AJAX actions within the plugin to verify request origin and intent.

Fix this in Ultimate Taxonomy Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,224.

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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-2023-45836 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