Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2023-46073

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-01-02
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 Mario Peshev DX Delete Attached Media dx-delete-attached-media allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects DX Delete Attached Media: from n/a through <= 2.0.5.1.

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

The DX Delete Attached Media WordPress plugin through version 2.0.5.1 contains a missing authorization vulnerability that allows attackers to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels. The plugin fails to properly verify user permissions before allowing deletion of attached media files, enabling unauthenticated or lower-privileged users to potentially delete media they should not have access to.

MitigationUpdate the plugin to the latest version which should include proper authorization checks. If no update is available, implement manual authorization verification in the delete functions using WordPress capability checks (e.g., 'delete_plugins' or 'edit_posts') and add nonce verification to prevent CSRF attacks.

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. Check if DX Delete Attached Media plugin is installed
    Navigate to WordPress admin dashboard under Plugins > Installed Plugins, or check for the /wp-content/plugins/dx-delete-attached-media/ directory via file system inspection
    Affected if The plugin directory exists in the WordPress plugins folder
  2. Identify the installed plugin version
    Open the main plugin file (usually dx-delete-attached-media.php) and look for the Version header in the plugin comment block at the top of the file, or check the version displayed in the WordPress plugins admin page
    Affected if The version is 2.0.5.1 or earlier (any version through 2.0.5.1)
  3. Verify the plugin is active
    Check the WordPress admin under Plugins > Installed Plugins to confirm the plugin status shows as 'Active', or query the WordPress options table for the active_plugins option
    Affected if The plugin is active and running on the site
  4. Confirm the delete functionality is accessible
    Review the plugin code to identify delete-related functions (look for wp_ajax hooks, admin_post handlers, or direct PHP file includes that handle media deletion), then verify these endpoints do not contain current_user_can() or capability checks before performing deletions
    Affected if The plugin lacks proper capability checks (such as current_user_can('delete_posts') or current_user_can('delete_others_posts')) before allowing media file deletion

A site is affected if the DX Delete Attached Media plugin version 2.0.5.1 or earlier is installed, active, and the vulnerable delete functionality lacks WordPress capability verification.

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 plugin to the latest version which should include proper authorization checks. If no update is available, implement manual authorization verification in the delete functions using WordPress capability checks (e.g., 'delete_plugins' or 'edit_posts') and add nonce verification to prevent CSRF attacks.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-46073 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-46073 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