Security Resilience

CVE-2023-2757

XSS in Plugin Waiting ≤ 0.6.2

Published
18 May 2023
Modified
08 April 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 7.4
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0045 38th percentile
Risk Priority 53 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-2757 is a high-severity Missing Authorization (CWE-862) vulnerability in Plugin Waiting. Its CVSS base score is 7.4 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Protocol or Service Impersonation (T1001.003); ranked at the 38th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The Waiting: One-click countdowns plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass due to a missing capability check on 'saveLang' functions in versions up to, and including, 0.6.2. This could lead to Cross-Site Scripting due to insufficient input sanitization and…

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output escaping. This makes it possible for subscriber-level attackers to access functions to save plugin data that can potentially lead to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.
T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access cached domain credentials used to allow authentication to occur in the event a domain controller is unavailable.
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
T1011 Exfiltration Over Other Network Medium Exfiltration
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over a different network medium than the command and control channel.
T1012 Query Registry Discovery
Adversaries may interact with the Windows Registry to gather information about the system, configuration, and installed software.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-1869Same vendor: Plugin
CVE-2022-0218Shared CWE-79, CWE-862
CVE-2023-48837Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-29023Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-48456Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-35094Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-37308Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-37630Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-22468Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-27617Shared CWE-79

Affected Assets

plugin
waiting
≤ 0.6.2

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.1.2
  • V1.3.2

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-862

Requiring an access control policy ensures authorization checks are defined and applied for critical functions.

addresses: CWE-862

Reviews of access controls detect missing authorization checks on critical functions or resources.

addresses: CWE-862

Documenting permitted unauthenticated actions prevents missing authorization by making all exceptions explicit and subject to organizational review.

addresses: CWE-862

Requiring attribute association with information prevents authorization from being performed without necessary security or privacy context.

addresses: CWE-862

Mandating authorization prior to allowing remote connections addresses missing authorization for remote access.

addresses: CWE-862

Mandating authorization before wireless connections are allowed prevents missing authorization for wireless access.

addresses: CWE-862

The control requires authorization before allowing mobile device connections, directly mitigating missing authorization for system access.

addresses: CWE-862

Requiring approvals for account creation and specifying authorizations ensures authorization is not missing for system access.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly target introduction of XSS via coding standards/testing (mostly), yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors unaddressed (partial).

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

Patching and EOL replacement can remediate known XSS instances in libraries or frameworks (partial) but do nothing to enforce input neutralization in application code (none).

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

removes
blocks

Requiring formal authorization of every access request before rights are granted ensures that checks for required permissions are performed, preventing missing authorization checks from being introduced.

removes
blocks

A.5.18's provisioning, review, revocation and activation steps (incl. owner approval, SoD, timely removal on role/termination change) directly stop exploitation of missing authorization checks by ensuring no actor receives or retains rights to resources they should not access; the bounded remainder is that it cannot stop missing-authorization defects inside the enforcement mechanism itself once rights have been granted (e.g. flawed code that ignores the rights table).

finds

By requiring competent outsiders to verify that every function enforces the need-to-know principle, the control lowers the likelihood that missing authorization checks persist undetected.

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-862, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.

References