WordPress Core < 6.3.2 – Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary Shortcode Execution via parse-media-shortcode
1fc3f65e-5fbe-403b-b7cd-dde16a7e5778Published · Updated Action summary
Affected: ≤6.3.1Update to 4.1.39 or 4.2.36 or 4.3.32 or 4.4.31 or 4.5.30 or 4.6.27 or 4.7.27 or 4.8.23 or 4.9.24 or 5.0.20 or 5.1.17 or 5.2.19 or 5.3.16 or 5.4.14 or 5.5.13 or 5.6.12 or 5.7.10 or 5.8.8 or 5.9.8 or 6.0.6 or 6.1.4 or 6.2.3 or 6.3.2 or newer
Fixed versions are per release branch: update to the fix for the branch you run.
All remediation stepsOn this page3
Overview
- Advisory ID
- 1fc3f65e-5fbe-403b-b7cd-dde16a7e5778
- Product
- WordPress wordpress
- Affected
- ≤6.3.1
- Fixed in
- 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
- Weakness
- CWE-20 Improper Input Validation
- Required access
- Low-privilege account (e.g. subscriber)
- Published
- · updated
- Credit
- James Golovich, WhiteCyberSec
- Affected≤ 6.3.1
- Patched in4.1.39 / 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
Update to 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 or newer.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:NWhat does this vector mean?
AV:NAttack vector- Network
AC:LAttack complexity- Low
PR:LPrivileges required- Low
UI:NUser interaction- None
S:UScope- Unchanged
C:LConfidentiality- Low
I:LIntegrity- Low
A:NAvailability- None
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.
Not sure which version you run? Run a passive check — it reads public files only.
Remediation & mitigations
- 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
- Rotate administrator passwords and application secrets if the site ran a vulnerable version while publicly reachable.
References & provenance
Proof-of-concept & detection
No public proof-of-concept or detection template is known for this vulnerability.
Advisories & patches
- Advisorywordfence.com
Timeline
CVE published
Severity medium, CVSS 5.4
Record last updated
Sources & licenses
Sources & licenses
- Vulnerability data
- Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. Licensed under the CC BY-SA 4.0.
- CVSS / CWE
- National Vulnerability Database (NVD), shown unmodified. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- VulnCrest content
- Summary, remediation guidance and page layout © VulnCrest. Not sourced from NVD.