WordPress wordpress core

WordPress Core < 6.2.1 — Shortcode Execution in User Generated Content

6300c8c2-f539-46b2-9ee0-80bebbe4cad3Published May 19, 2023 · Updated Nov 13, 2026

Affected: <6.2.1Update to 5.9.6 or 6.0.4 or 6.1.2 or 6.2.1 or newer

Fixed versions are per release branch: update to the fix for the branch you run.

All remediation steps

Watch core

Medium6.5CVSS 3.16.5CISA KEVNot listedAccessNo account needed

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Overview

Advisory ID: 6300c8c2-f539-46b2-9ee0-80bebbe4cad3
Product: WordPress wordpress
Affected: <6.2.1
Fixed in: 5.9.6, 6.0.4, 6.1.2, 6.2.1
Weakness: CWE-349 Acceptance of Extraneous Untrusted Data With Trusted Data
Required access: No account needed
Published: May 19, 2023 · updated Nov 13, 2026
Credit: Liam Gladdy

Affected< 6.2.1
Patched in5.9.6 / 6.0.4 / 6.1.2 / 6.2.1

6.5

CVSS 3.1 · CNA (Wordfence)

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

What does this vector mean?

AV:N Attack vector: Network
AC:L Attack complexity: Low
PR:N Privileges required: None
UI:N User interaction: None
S:U Scope: Unchanged
C:L Confidentiality: Low
I:L Integrity: Low
A:N Availability: None

WordPress Core processes shortcodes in user-generated content on block themes in versions up to, and including, 6.2. This could allow unauthenticated attackers to execute shortcodes via submitting comments or other content, allowing them to exploit vulnerabilities that typically require Subscriber or Contributor-level permissions.

While this is likely to have minimal impact on its own, it can significantly increase the severity of other vulnerabilities.

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: 5.9.6, 6.0.4, 6.1.2, 6.2.1
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

May 19, 2023
CVE published
Severity medium, CVSS 6.5
Nov 13, 2026
Record last updated

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.

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