CVE-2023-2986 | Abandoned Cart Lite for WooCommerce <= 5.15.1 - Authentication Bypass

The Abandoned Cart Lite for WooCommerce plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass in versions up to, and including, 5.14.2. This is due to insufficient encryption on the user being supplied during the abandoned cart link decode through the plugin. This allows unauthenticated attackers to log in as users who have abandoned the cart, who are typically customers. Further security hardening was introduced in version 5.15.1 that ensures sites are no longer vulnerable through historical check-out links, and additional hardening was introduced in version 5.15.2 that ensured null key values wouldn't permit the authentication bypass.

Published: 2023-06-08 Last update: 2026-04-08 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-2986 is rated High Risk (74.4/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 91.71%, 100th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize 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-2023-2986

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 2026-05-06 91.42% 91.71% +0.30%
2 2026-02-16 91.72% 91.42% -0.30%
3 2026-01-31 — 91.72% —

Full EPSS history (39 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-2986

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
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.
 3.9 5.9 [email protected]
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
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.
 3.9 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-2986

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-2986

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
tychesoftwares abandoned_cart_lite_for_woocommerce <= 5.14.2 cpe:2.3:a:tychesoftwares:abandoned_cart_lite_for_woocommerce:*:*:*:*:*:wordpress:*:*

References for CVE-2023-2986

URL Tags
https://github.com/Ayantaker/CVE-2023-2986
https://github.com/TycheSoftwares/woocommerce-abandoned-cart/pull/885#issuecomment-1601813615
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/woocommerce-abandoned-cart/trunk/woocommerce-ac.php#L1815 Patch
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/woocommerce-abandoned-cart/trunk/woocommerce-ac.php?rev=2916178#L1800 Patch
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/2922242/ Patch
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=2925274%40woocommerce-abandoned-cart&new=2925274%40woocommerce-abandoned-cart&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=
https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2023/06/tyche-softwares-addresses-authentication-bypass-vulnerability-in-abandoned-cart-lite-for-woocommerce-wordpress-plugin/
https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/68052614-204f-4237-af0e-4b8210ebd59f?source=cve Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence