Auth bypass in Web Stories for WordPress plugin

published 2023-05-08 3 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2023-24159

cvss: 4.9; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.4%; EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 38%
public exploits: 0; none known

The Web Stories for WordPress plugin supports the WordPress built-in functionality of protecting content with a password. The content is then only accessible to website visitors after entering the password. In WordPress, users with the "Author" role can create stories, but don't have the ability to edit password protected stories. The vulnerability allowed users with said role to bypass this permission check when trying to duplicate the protected story in the plugin's own dashboard, giving them access to the seemingly protected content. We recommend upgrading to version 1.32 or beyond commit ad49781c2a35c5c92ef704d4b621ab4e5cb77d68 https://github.com/GoogleForCreators/web-stories-wp/commit/ad49781c2a35c5c92ef704d4b621ab4e5cb77d68

Patch / fix

fixed in 1 links 2

Google Web Stories for WordPress 1.32

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: partial
Assessed: 21 mo ago (2025-01-28)

Exploit prediction

0.44% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 38% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	3.1	4.9	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD	3.1	6.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Affected products

Google Web Stories for WordPress

Classification

Weakness

CWE-863 Incorrect Authorization

References

Sources

CVE List CVE-2023-1979
NVD CVE-2023-1979

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary