CVE-2023-2736 | Groundhogg <= 2.7.9.8 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Privilege Escalation

The Groundhogg plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in versions up to, and including, 2.7.9.8. This is due to missing nonce validation in the 'ajax_edit_contact' function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers to receive the auto login link via shortcode and then modify the assigned user to the auto login link to elevate verified user privileges via a forged request granted they can trick a site administrator into performing an action such as clicking on a link.

Published: 2023-05-20 Last update: 2026-04-08 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-2736 is rated Moderate Risk (42.4/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.15%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-2736

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-03-16 0.12% 0.15% +0.03%
2 2025-03-30 1.82% 0.12% -1.70%
3 2025-03-29 1.82%

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-2736

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.6 5.9 [email protected]
8.0 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
2.1 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-2736

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-2736

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
groundhogg groundhogg <= 2.7.9.8 cpe:2.3:a:groundhogg:groundhogg:*:*:*:*:*:wordpress:*:*

References for CVE-2023-2736

cvelogic Threat Intelligence