Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2023-50373

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-12-09
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 WPSAAD Alt Manager alt-manager allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects Alt Manager: from n/a through <= 1.6.1.

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 · moderate confidence

This is a missing authorization vulnerability in the WPSAAD Alt Manager WordPress plugin. The plugin fails to properly enforce authorization checks, allowing attackers to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels to access functionality they should not have permission to use.

MitigationImplement proper role-based access control (RBAC) checks at all sensitive endpoints and functions within the plugin to ensure users can only access features authorized for their security level.

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
None
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

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 WPSAAD Alt Manager plugin is installed
    Navigate to WordPress admin dashboard > Plugins and check if 'WPSAAD Alt Manager' or 'Alt Manager' plugin appears in the installed plugins list, or inspect the wp-content/plugins directory for a folder containing 'alt-manager' or similar naming
    Affected if The plugin is present in the WordPress installation
  2. Identify the installed plugin version
    Check the plugin's main PHP file header (usually in wp-content/plugins/alt-manager/ or similar) for the 'Version' tag, or check the readme.txt file for the Stable tag
    Affected if The version cannot be determined or matches a vulnerable release
  3. Review user role and capability settings
    Navigate to the plugin settings page in WordPress admin (usually under Settings or a dedicated menu item for WPSAAD Alt Manager) and examine the access control configuration for any role-based access control (RBAC) settings
    Affected if The plugin allows configuration of user roles or capabilities without proper authorization enforcement
  4. Inspect plugin endpoints for authorization bypass
    Use a web proxy or browser developer tools to examine network requests when accessing plugin features. Check if sensitive plugin functions (like alt text management, bulk operations, or settings changes) can be triggered via direct URL access without proper authentication or authorization headers
    Affected if Sensitive plugin functions are accessible to unauthenticated users or users without proper role permissions
  5. Verify access control on plugin admin pages
    Create a test user with a low-privilege role (e.g., Subscriber) and attempt to access the WPSAAD Alt Manager admin pages directly via URL to see if authorization is properly enforced
    Affected if Low-privilege users can access plugin functionality intended for administrators

The environment is affected if the WPSAAD Alt Manager plugin is installed and either lacks proper role-based access control checks or allows unauthorized users to access administrative functionality.

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

Implement proper role-based access control (RBAC) checks at all sensitive endpoints and functions within the plugin to ensure users can only access features authorized for their security level.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2023-50373 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
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