CVE-2023-1024: WP Meta SEO <= 4.5.3 - Missing Authorization in 'regenerateSitemaps'

Severity: medium (CVSS 4.3 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2023-02-28 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-862

Description

The WP Meta SEO plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized sitemap generation due to a missing capability check on the regenerateSitemaps function in versions up to, and including, 4.5.3. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with subscriber-level access to generate sitemaps. This vulnerability occurred as a result of the plugin relying on nonce checks as a means of access control, and that nonce being accessible to all authenticated users regardless of role.

Affected products

joomunited WP Meta SEO: through 4.5.3

References

https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/2870465/wp-meta-seo/trunk?contextall=1&old=2869205&old_path=%2Fwp-meta-seo%2Ftrunk#file2
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=2870465%40wp-meta-seo&new=2870465%40wp-meta-seo&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=
https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/4a3f835e-0aa9-4581-9150-fe5041e0f293?source=cve
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/2870465/wp-meta-seo/trunk?contextall=1&old=2869205&old_path=%2Fwp-meta-seo%2Ftrunk#file2
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=2870465%40wp-meta-seo&new=2870465%40wp-meta-seo&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=
https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/4a3f835e-0aa9-4581-9150-fe5041e0f293

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