CVE-2022-43468
Description
WordPress Popular Posts 6.0.5 and earlier accept untrusted external inputs to update internal variables, allowing view count manipulation.
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
WordPress Popular Posts 6.0.5 and earlier accept untrusted external inputs to update internal variables, allowing view count manipulation.
Vulnerability
WordPress Popular Posts plugin version 6.0.5 and earlier contains an external initialization of trusted variables or data stores vulnerability (CWE-454) [3]. The product accepts untrusted external inputs to update certain internal variables, specifically the view counting mechanism [1][3]. Affected versions: 6.0.5 and earlier [1].
Exploitation
An attacker can send a crafted HTTP request to the WordPress site without authentication [3]. The vulnerability is exploitable over the network with low complexity; no user interaction or privileges are required [3]. By manipulating the parameters that the plugin uses to update view counts, the attacker can inflate or deflate the number of views for any article [3].
Impact
Successful exploitation allows an attacker to arbitrarily manipulate the number of views for an article, compromising the integrity of the view statistics [3]. The CVSS v3 base score is 5.3 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N) [3]. Confidentiality and availability are not affected.
Mitigation
The vendor released a fix in a later version. Users should update to the latest version (7.3.8 as of 2026-02-17) available from the WordPress plugin repository [2][4]. No workarounds are documented [3]. The vulnerability is not listed in CISA KEV.
AI Insight generated on May 25, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.
Affected products
2- Range: <=6.0.5
- Hector Cabrera/WordPress Popular Postsv5Range: 6.0.5 and earlier
Patches
0No patches discovered yet.
Vulnerability mechanics
Root cause
"External initialization of trusted variables — the plugin accepts untrusted external inputs to update internal view-count variables without validation."
Attack vector
An attacker sends crafted HTTP requests containing external inputs that the plugin trusts to update internal variables. Because the plugin does not validate whether these inputs originate from a trusted source, the attacker can manipulate the view count of any article. The attack requires no special privileges beyond network access to the WordPress site [ref_id=1].
Affected code
The advisory does not specify exact file paths or function names. The vulnerability exists in WordPress Popular Posts 6.0.5 and earlier, where the plugin accepts untrusted external inputs to update internal variables related to view counting.
What the fix does
The advisory does not include a patch or specific remediation steps. Users are advised to update to a version newer than 6.0.5 once available. No fix is published in the provided bundle.
Preconditions
- networkNetwork access to the WordPress site running the plugin
- configWordPress Popular Posts plugin version 6.0.5 or earlier must be installed and active
Generated on May 26, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.
References
2News mentions
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