WordPress Core < 6.3.2 – Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary Shortcode Execution via parse-media-shortcode

5.4
Improper Input Validation
CVSS 5.4 (Medium)
Publicly Published October 12, 2023
Last Updated January 22, 2024
Researchers James Golovich
WhiteCyberSec

Description

WordPress Core is vulnerable to arbitrary shortcode execution in versions up to, and including, 6.3.1 due to a lack of input validation on the 'shortcode' parameter in the parse_media_shortcode AJAX function. This allows authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level privileges and above, to execute arbitrary shortcodes.

References

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Vulnerability Details for WordPress

Software Type Core
Patched? Yes
Remediation Update to one of the following versions, or a newer patched version: 4.1.39, 4.2.36, 4.3.32, 4.4.31, 4.5.30, 4.6.27, 4.7.27, 4.8.23, 4.9.24, 5.0.20, 5.1.17, 5.2.19, 5.3.16, 5.4.14, 5.5.13, 5.6.12, 5.7.10, 5.8.8, 5.9.8, 6.0.6, 6.1.4, 6.2.3, 6.3.2
Affected Versions
  • <= 4.1.38
  • 5.7 - 5.7.9
  • 5.8 - 5.8.7
  • 5.9 - 5.9.7
Expand to see 19 more affected version ranges.
  • 6.0 - 6.0.5
  • 6.1 - 6.1.3
  • 6.2 - 6.2.2
  • 6.3 - 6.3.1
  • 4.2 - 4.2.35
  • 4.3 - 4.3.31
  • 4.4 - 4.4.30
  • 4.5 - 4.5.29
  • 4.6 - 4.6.26
  • 4.7 - 4.7.26
  • 4.8 - 4.8.22
  • 4.9 - 4.9.23
  • 5.0 - 5.0.19
  • 5.1 - 5.1.16
  • 5.2 - 5.2.18
  • 5.3 - 5.3.15
  • 5.4 - 5.4.13
  • 5.5 - 5.5.12
  • 5.6 - 5.6.11
Patched Versions
  • 4.1.39
  • 4.2.36
  • 4.3.32
  • 4.4.31
Expand to see 19 more patched versions.
  • 4.5.30
  • 4.6.27
  • 4.7.27
  • 4.8.23
  • 4.9.24
  • 5.0.20
  • 5.1.17
  • 5.2.19
  • 5.3.16
  • 5.4.14
  • 5.5.13
  • 5.6.12
  • 5.7.10
  • 5.8.8
  • 5.9.8
  • 6.0.6
  • 6.1.4
  • 6.2.3
  • 6.3.2

Recent vulnerabilities in WordPress

# Title CVE ID CVSS Researchers Date
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4 WordPress 6.9 - 6.9.1 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary Note Creation via REST API CVE-2026-3906 4.3 kaminuma March 10, 2026
5 WordPress <= 6.9.1 - Authenticated (Author+) XML External Entity Injection via getID3 Library Media Upload 6.5 Youssef Achtatal March 10, 2026
6 WordPress <= 6.9.1 - Authenticated (Administrator+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Navigation Menu Items 4.4 sibwtf March 10, 2026
7 WordPress <= 6.9.1 - Unauthenticated Blind Server-Side Request Forgery via XML-RPC Pingback Discovery 5.8 sibwtf March 10, 2026
8 WordPress <= 6.9.1 - Cross-Site Scripting via Client-Side Template Override in Admin Area 4.4 Asaf Mozes March 10, 2026
9 WordPress <= 6.8.2 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Sensitive Information Exposure CVE-2025-58246 4.3 Abu Hurayra (HurayraIIT) September 22, 2025
10 WordPress <= 6.8.2 - Authenticated (Author+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting CVE-2025-58674 6.4 SavPhill (Savphill) September 22, 2025

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