# CVE-2023-6623: Essential Blocks Plugin - Path Traversal

> Live exploitation tracking for CVE-2023-6623 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-2023-6623

## Key facts

- **Exploitation phase:** Limited Exploitation. The vulnerability is known but shows very limited attacker interest or exploitation activity.
- **CVSS score:** 9.8
- **Public exploit available:** Yes
- **Affected products:** WPDeveloper Essential Blocks
- **Weaknesses:** CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal'))
- **Tags:** cms, wordpress

## Description

The Essential Blocks WordPress plugin before 4.4.3 does not prevent unauthenticated attackers from overwriting local variables when rendering templates over the REST API, which may lead to Local File Inclusion attacks.

## CrowdSec analysis

The Essential Blocks WordPress plugin before version 4.4.3 is vulnerable to a path traversal flaw, tracked as [CVE-2023-6623](https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/CVE-2023-6623) that allows unauthenticated attackers to overwrite local variables during template rendering via the REST API. This vulnerability can be exploited to perform Local File Inclusion attacks, potentially exposing sensitive files or enabling further compromise of the affected WordPress site.

CrowdSec has been tracking this vulnerability and its exploits since 8th of May 2024.

Data from the CrowdSec community indicates that exploitation of CVE-2023-6623 is highly selective and intelligence-driven. Threat actors use advanced reconnaissance and carefully choose their targets, often as part of sophisticated campaigns or advanced persistent threat operations.
CrowdSec network telemetry also shows that exploitation of CVE-2023-6623 has significantly declined over the past week. Attack volumes are well below the long-term average, suggesting attackers are rapidly losing interest. The vulnerability appears to be falling out of active use across most threat landscapes.

Attackers exploit the `/wp-json/essential-blocks/v1/queries` endpoint by supplying path traversal sequences in the `file` parameter to include arbitrary files from the server, potentially leading to sensitive data disclosure or code execution.

## Timeline

- 2024-01-15: CVE Published. CVE-2023-6623 is published to NVD.
- 2024-05-08: Rule Released. CrowdSec releases a rule to detect CVE-2023-6623 exploitation attempts against the CrowdSec Network.
- 2024-12-04: CrowdSec First Seen. CrowdSec observes in-the-wild exploitation of CVE-2023-6623 for the first time.

## References

- https://wpscan.com/blog/file-inclusion-vulnerability-fixed-in-essential-blocks-4-4-3/
- https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2023/CVE-2023-6623.yaml

## Live exploitation data

The [Live Exploit Tracker page](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2023-6623) follows observed exploitation activity for CVE-2023-6623. [Request an API key](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/request-api-key) for full access to its exploitation timeline, attacking IP addresses and blocklists.