Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild High confidence Not in CISA KEV

CVE-2023-28121

WooCommerce Payments

WooCommerce Payments · Fixed version 5.6.2

Watch CVE-2023-28121 Browse KEV feed
Severity
CVSS 9.8 · Critical
Confidence
High
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
87.0%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2023-28121 is an unauthenticated vulnerability affecting WooCommerce Payments. An issue in WooCommerce Payments plugin for WordPress (versions 5.6.1 and lower) allows an unauthenticated attacker to send requests...

Is it exploited?

Yes. Previdian tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is high. Also confirmed by third-party sources.

Who is affected?

WooCommerce Payments fixed version 5.6.2.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

WooCommerce Payments

An issue in WooCommerce Payments plugin for WordPress (versions 5.6.1 and lower) allows an unauthenticated attacker to send requests on behalf of an elevated user, like administrator.

This allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker to gain admin access on a site that has the affected version of the plugin activated.

n/a Affected
WooCommerce Payments WordPress Plugin
Fixed version 5.6.2
Published
12 Apr 2023
Exploitation Reported
12 Oct 2026
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None

Tags

nuclei_scanner wordpress metasploit_scanner

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Why Previdian marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

The Hacker News

Recorded 12 Oct 2026

A trusted third party reported exploitation.

Proof of concept available

GitHub

Recorded 30 Mar 2023

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the Previdian Pro API.

Learn about Pro API access
Source Added
Wordfence First 2023-07-17 10:27 UTC
The Hacker News 2026-10-12 09:31 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
User-Agents
Callback hosts
0
0
0

Request targets and User-Agents available in Pro. Callback host details available in Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No Previdian virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Nuclei https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2023/CVE-2023-28121.yaml 25 Apr 2025
Metasploit https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/auxiliary/scanner/http/wp_woocommerce_payments_add_user.rb 22 Mar 2023

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

9.8 Critical

Potential damage if exploited. Separate from whether attackers are using it.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

87.0%

Estimated chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Previdian's warning comes from evidence, not this score.

Weaknesses

Improper Authentication CWE-287

Recent mention · The Hacker News

Attackers Exploit CVSS 10.0 Bricksforge WordPress Flaw Enabling Unauthenticated RCE

Ravie LakshmananOct 12, 2026Vulnerability / Web Security A maximum-severity security flaw impacting the Bricksforge plugin for WordPress has come under active exploitation in the wild, according to Patchstack. The critical vulnerability in question is CVE-2026-85097 (CVSS...

Read full advisory

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

WooCommerce Payments - Unauthorized Admin Access

nuclei · Created Unknown

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. 09:31 UTC

    KEV confirmed by The Hacker News

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  2. 14:20 UTC

    Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  3. 00:00 UTC

    Nuclei template available

    Scanner coverage available

  4. 10:27 UTC

    Added to Previdian KEV Feed

    High-confidence, third-party attested exploitation

  5. 00:00 UTC

    CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  6. 00:00 UTC

    Metasploit module available

    Exploit module available

  7. 00:00 UTC

    CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

Start 14-day Pro trial Read API docs
  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2023-28121

Sample API response 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2023-28121",
  "confidence": "High",
  "cvss_score": 9.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.87045,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}