# CVE-2022-43468: Business logic in WordPress Popular Posts

> Attackers can manipulate article view counts in WordPress Popular Posts by injecting untrusted external inputs into trusted variables.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 7 Dec 2022
- **Updated:** 23 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-3p4m-vv4f-vw54

## What is CVE-2022-43468?

CVE-2022-43468 is a high-severity vulnerability in Hector Cabrera WordPress Popular Posts, published on 7 Dec 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

External initialization of trusted variables or data stores vulnerability exists in WordPress Popular Posts 6.0.5 and earlier, therefore the vulnerable product accepts untrusted external inputs to update certain internal variables. As a result, the number of views for an article may be manipulated through a crafted input.

Weakness: CWE-665 (Improper Initialization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-43468?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Wordpress Popular Posts Project Wordpress Popular Posts.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-43468?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-43468 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-43468 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-43468 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Hector Cabrera WordPress Popular Posts

- [CVE-2021-42362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42362/): WordPress Popular Posts <= 5.3.2 Authenticated Arbitrary File Upload (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-45607](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-45607/): WordPress WordPress Popular Posts Plugin <= 6.3.2 is vulnerable to Cross Site Scripting (XSS) (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2021-36872](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-36872/): WordPress Popular Posts plugin <= 5.3.3 - Authenticated Persistent Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability (medium 5.5)
- [CVE-2021-20746](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-20746/): Cross-site scripting in WordPress Popular Posts (medium 5.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-43468 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-43468 is a high-severity vulnerability in Hector Cabrera WordPress Popular Posts, published on 7 Dec 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-43468 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Hector Cabrera WordPress Popular Posts. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-43468/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-43468/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-43468
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-43468
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-43468

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-43468/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.