WordPress wordpress core

WordPress Core 4.7.0 — 6.3.1 - Sensitive Information Exposure via User Search REST Endpoint

CVE-2023-5561Published Oct 12, 2023 · Updated Nov 13, 2026

Affected: ≤6.3.1Update to 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 steps

Watch core

Medium5.3CVSS 3.15.3CISA KEVNot listedAccessNo account needed

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Overview

Advisory ID: CVE-2023-5561
Product: WordPress wordpress
Affected: ≤6.3.1
Fixed in: 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-200 Information Exposure
Required access: No account needed
Published: Oct 12, 2023 · updated Nov 13, 2026
Credit: Marc-Alexandre Montpas
Source: Wordfence Intelligence

Affected≤ 6.3.1
Patched in4.7.27 / 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

5.3

CVSS 3.1 · CNA (Wordfence)

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/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:N Integrity: None
A:N Availability: None

WordPress Core is vulnerable to Sensitive Information Exposure in versions between 4.7.0 and 6.3.1 via the User REST endpoint. While the search results do not display user email addresses unless the requesting user has the 'list_users' capability, the search is applied to the user_email column.

This can allow unauthenticated attackers to brute force or verify the email addresses of users with published posts or pages on the site.

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: 4.7.27, 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

Oct 12, 2023
CVE published
Severity medium, CVSS 5.3
Nov 13, 2026
Record last updated

Sources & licenses

Wordfence record

Vulnerability data: Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. Licensed under the CC BY-SA 4.0.
CVE® identifiers: Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. Used under the CVE Program. CVE® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation.
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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