Improper AuthenticationWeakness · CWE-287

CVE-2023-51477

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-04-24
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Improper Authentication vulnerability in BUDDYBOSS DMCC BuddyBoss Theme allows Accessing Functionality Not Properly Constrained by ACLs.This issue affects BuddyBoss Theme: from n/a through 2.4.60.

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

Improper Authentication vulnerability in BuddyBoss Theme allows attackers to bypass access controls and access functionality that should be constrained by ACLs. This appears to be an authentication/authorization bypass (likely IDOR) enabling unauthorized access to restricted features of the WordPress-based social platform.

MitigationUpdate BuddyBoss Theme to the latest available version (beyond 2.4.60) to obtain the vendor patch. If immediate update is not possible, implement web application firewall rules to block exploitation attempts and review user role capabilities.

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 installed BuddyBoss Theme version
    In WordPress admin, go to Appearance > Themes and check the active BuddyBoss Theme version, or inspect the theme's style.css file header for the Version: field
    Affected if Version is 2.4.60 or lower (the vulnerability was patched in versions beyond 2.4.60)
  2. Review WordPress user role capabilities
    Navigate to BuddyBoss > Settings > Member Capabilities (or similar ACL configuration page) and inspect all user roles (Administrator, Moderator, Member, etc.) to verify expected permission levels are intact
    Affected if Any user role has capabilities that were not intentionally assigned, or standard roles have elevated permissions they should not have
  3. Check for unauthorized access to restricted features
    Review BuddyBoss activity logs, WordPress audit logs, or server access logs for requests to restricted features (groups, messages, profile data) made by lower-privileged users or non-members
    Affected if Logs show access to ACL-protected features by users lacking those permissions
  4. Inspect user role assignments for anomalies
    In WordPress admin under Users > All Users, review role assignments for any unexpected changes or users assigned to elevated roles they did not previously hold
    Affected if Users have been assigned to higher-privilege roles without admin action, or role modifications occurred without authorization

You are affected if your installed BuddyBoss Theme version is 2.4.60 or lower and evidence exists of unauthorized access to restricted features or unintended privilege escalation.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update BuddyBoss Theme to the latest available version (beyond 2.4.60) to obtain the vendor patch. If immediate update is not possible, implement web application firewall rules to block exploitation attempts and review user role capabilities.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Version higher than 2.4.60 (verify exact fixed release with BuddyBoss)

  1. Confirm current BuddyBoss Theme version is 2.4.60 or earlier
  2. Backup the WordPress site before making changes
  3. Navigate to BuddyBoss Theme settings or WordPress theme section
  4. Check for and apply any available updates to BuddyBoss Theme
  5. Verify the update was successful by checking the theme version

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,920
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,072.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-51477 — 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-2023-51477 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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