Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-23488

CriticalPublic PoC

Published: 20 January 2023

Published
20 January 2023
Modified
03 April 2025
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.8383 99.3th percentile
Risk Priority 70 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2023-23488 is a critical-severity SQL Injection (CWE-89) vulnerability in Strangerstudios Paid Memberships Pro. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, ranked in the top 0.7% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

Deeper analysis

The Paid Memberships Pro WordPress plugin versions prior to 2.9.8 are affected by an unauthenticated SQL injection vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-23488, in the 'code' parameter of the '/pmpro/v1/order' REST route. This flaw, classified under CWE-89, carries a CVSS v3.1 score of 9.8 reflecting its critical severity.

Attackers with no prior authentication can exploit the vulnerability remotely to execute arbitrary SQL commands, potentially leading to complete compromise of the affected WordPress site including data exfiltration, modification, or deletion. The exploitation probability remains high with an EPSS score of 0.8383 and a peak of 0.8418.

Public technical analyses of the issue are available from Tenable and Packet Storm Security.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

The Paid Memberships Pro WordPress Plugin, version < 2.9.8, is affected by an unauthenticated SQL injection vulnerability in the 'code' parameter of the '/pmpro/v1/order' REST route.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.

Affected Assets

strangerstudios
paid memberships pro
≤ 2.9.8

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-89

Penetration testing uses SQL injection payloads against database interfaces, identifying and supporting fixes for SQL injection weaknesses.

addresses: CWE-89

Validates query inputs to prevent SQL syntax or command manipulation.

References