# CVE-2023-28121: WooCommerce - Authentication Bypass

> Live exploitation tracking for CVE-2023-28121 by the CrowdSec Live Exploit Tracker, built from real-world attack data crowdsourced from CrowdSec's global network.

Page: https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2023-28121

## Key facts

- **Exploitation phase:** Background Noise. Continuous low-level scanning or exploitation attempts are observed, mostly opportunistic and automated.
- **CVSS score:** 9.8
- **Public exploit available:** Yes
- **Affected products:** WooCommerce
- **Weaknesses:** CWE-287 (Improper Authentication)
- **Tags:** cms, ecommerce, wordpress

## Description

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.

## CrowdSec analysis

[CVE-2023-28121](https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/CVE-2023-28121) is a critical vulnerability in the WooCommerce Payments plugin for WordPress that allows unauthenticated attackers to impersonate elevated users, including administrators, enabling full site takeover.

CrowdSec has been tracking this vulnerability and its exploits since 15th of December 2023.

Insights from the CrowdSec network reveal that the attackers trying to exploit CVE-2023-28121 are composed of a fairly even mix of opportunistic and targeted actors. Some attackers employ preliminary reconnaissance, while others use indiscriminate scanning.
In addition, according to the CrowdSec network, attack volume against CVE-2023-28121 has dipped slightly compared to the previous week. Although still commonly targeted, the decline suggests a cooling-off period. Long-term relevance remains, but attention is waning.

 The exploits don't target a specific endpoint, instead the vulnerability is caused by a query parameter that can be attached to any request.

## Timeline

- 2023-04-12: CVE Published. CVE-2023-28121 is published to NVD.
- 2023-12-15: Rule Released. CrowdSec releases a rule to detect CVE-2023-28121 exploitation attempts against the CrowdSec Network.
- 2024-11-26: CrowdSec First Seen. CrowdSec observes in-the-wild exploitation of CVE-2023-28121 for the first time.

## References

- https://developer.woocommerce.com/2023/03/23/critical-vulnerability-detected-in-woocommerce-payments-what-you-need-to-know/
- https://www.rcesecurity.com/2023/07/patch-diffing-cve-2023-28121-to-compromise-a-woocommerce/
- https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2023/CVE-2023-28121.yaml

## Live exploitation data

The [Live Exploit Tracker page](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2023-28121) follows observed exploitation activity for CVE-2023-28121. [Request an API key](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/request-api-key) for full access to its exploitation timeline, attacking IP addresses and blocklists.