Gd Security HeadersWordPress extension · Dev4press

CVE-2023-46821

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-11-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.7 or later.
See remediation →
78/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in Milan Petrovic GD Security Headers allows auth. (admin+) SQL Injection.This issue affects GD Security Headers: from n/a through 1.7.

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

SQL Injection vulnerability in the GD Security Headers WordPress plugin by Milan Petrovic allows authenticated administrators or higher to inject malicious SQL commands through unsanitized input parameters. The vulnerability exists in versions through 1.7 and requires admin-level privileges to exploit.

MitigationUpdate GD Security Headers to the latest version which should contain parameterized queries to neutralize SQL injection vectors. If no update is available, audit and sanitize all database query paths in the plugin, replacing string concatenation with prepared statements.

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
Gd Security HeadersWordPress extension
Affected:<= 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
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/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. Verify GD Security Headers plugin is installed
    Check WordPress plugins directory or admin panel for 'GD Security Headers' by Dev4press
    Affected if Plugin is installed and active
  2. Identify installed plugin version
    Look in WordPress plugin admin panel or inspect plugin header in wp-content/plugins/gd-security-headers/ directory for the Version field
    Affected if Version is 1.7 or lower (any version 'through 1.7')
  3. Confirm admin-level user accounts exist
    Check WordPress users panel for any user with Administrator role
    Affected if At least one user with Administrator role exists (required for exploitation)
  4. Review plugin database query execution
    Inspect plugin PHP files in gd-security-headers/ for direct SQL queries using $wpdb->prepare or unsanitized input in database operations
    Affected if Unsanitized SQL parameters or string concatenation found in database queries (vulnerable code pattern)

User is affected if GD Security Headers plugin version 1.7 or lower is installed, an administrator-level account exists, and the plugin contains unsanitized SQL query paths accessible to admins.

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 1.7
Interim mitigation

Update GD Security Headers to the latest version which should contain parameterized queries to neutralize SQL injection vectors. If no update is available, audit and sanitize all database query paths in the plugin, replacing string concatenation with prepared statements.

Fix this in Gd Security Headers 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.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-46821 — 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-2023-46821 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