CVE-2021-34622Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Administrator escalation via unrestricted profile metadata updates

Published Jul 7, 2021 · Updated Oct 15, 2024

Privilege escalation in ProfilePress 3.0.0 through 3.1.3 allows remote authenticated users to grant themselves Administrator access. EditUserProfile.php passes attacker-supplied profile key-value pairs to update_user_meta without excluding the wp_capabilities key. Any account that can submit a profile update can overwrite its own role metadata and gain full WordPress site administration.

CVSS severity8.8
High
EPSS probability4.12%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in ProfilePress 3.0.0 through 3.1.3 allows remote authenticated users to grant themselves Administrator access. EditUserProfile.php passes attacker-supplied profile key-value pairs to update_user_meta without excluding the wp_capabilities key. Any account that can submit a profile update can overwrite its own role metadata and gain full WordPress site administration.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-34622
Published
Jul 7, 2021
Updated
Oct 15, 2024
Vendor
ProfilePress Membership Team
Product
ProfilePress
Classifications
CWE-269, T1098
Attack vector
network
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jul 7, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Oct 15, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=3.0.0 <=3.1.3
  2. Affected versionversion=3.0.0 - 3.1.3

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

ProfilePress Membership Team · ProfilePressversion=3.0.0 <=3.1.3; version=3.0.0 - 3.1.3

Published CVSS scores

8.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
6.5NIST NVDAV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P
9.8WordfenceCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-269Improper Privilege Management
T1098Account Manipulation

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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