Quick Overview:
A new vulnerability tagged CVE-2023-46195 has been found in the CoSchedule Headline Analyzer WordPress plugin (versions up to and including 1.3.1). This bug is all about missing authorization. In simpler words: some important security checks were skipped, and hackers can make the plugin do things it shouldn’t, if the security levels are not set up just right.

Disclaimer: This post is an exclusive, easy-to-read deep dive for both beginners and developers who want to secure their WordPress sites. Let’s break this down step by step.

What’s the Problem?

Headline Analyzer by CoSchedule is used by thousands of bloggers, marketers, and businesses to craft better headlines. But from its earliest versions up to 1.3.1, there’s a flaw:
The plugin fails to confirm if a user is properly authorized before letting them access or run certain actions.

If your website has poorly set up user permissions, an attacker could exploit these missing checks to:

Where’s The Weak Spot In The Code?

WordPress plugins should always check if a user is logged in and allowed (‘authorized’) before running certain admin actions. Internally, this usually means functions like current_user_can() or check_admin_referer() should be present.

But here’s a simplified example showing what *might* be happening inside CoSchedule’s code (for educational purposes only):

// BAD: Missing authorization check
add_action('wp_ajax_coschedule_headline_analyze', 'analyze_headline_callback');

function analyze_headline_callback() {
    // No check here! Anyone can send an AJAX request to this action
    $headline = $_POST['headline'];
    // Do stuff with $headline, maybe return a score or store data
    echo json_encode(['score' => analyze_score($headline)]);
    wp_die();
}

What’s missing?

Before doing anything, we should check if the user has the right permissions. For example

// GOOD: Add authorization check
add_action('wp_ajax_coschedule_headline_analyze', 'analyze_headline_callback');

function analyze_headline_callback() {
    if (!current_user_can('edit_posts')) {
        wp_send_json_error('Not allowed', 403);
        wp_die();
    }
    $headline = $_POST['headline'];
    echo json_encode(['score' => analyze_score($headline)]);
    wp_die();
}

How Can an Attacker Exploit This?

With this missing authorization, an attacker can craft an AJAX request directly to WordPress — no login needed, just standard web tools like Postman or even a browser’s console.

If your site has open access, here’s what an attack might look like in curl

curl -X POST \
     -d "action=coschedule_headline_analyze" \
     -d "headline=Break the system" \
     https://victim.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php

If the plugin's handler doesn’t check the user's auth, it’ll happily process the request. The attacker gets back headline scores, data, or whatever the endpoint returns.

Small Blogs:

If you’re the only user, you might think you’re safe. But if your admin access is poorly protected, anyone can get in and mess around.

Multi-User Sites:

This is bad! Users with low privileges (like subscribers) or even people not logged in can perform actions that only editors/admins should do.
- Data Leaks/Manipulations:

- Wordfence Advisory
- WPScan Entry
- NIST/NVD CVE Detail

Check Your Security:

Use plugins like Wordfence or Sucuri to scan for vulnerabilities.

Check User Roles:

Make sure only trusted users have editor/admin rights.

Conclusion

CVE-2023-46195 is a classic case of what happens when authorization checks are skipped. It’s a reminder to check your plugins, keep them up to date, and review access controls regularly.

Don’t let a simple slip-up ruin your website’s security.
Stay safe — and keep building awesome headlines (securely) with WordPress!

Timeline

Published on: 01/02/2025 12:15:11 UTC