Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This affects WordPress sites using the ProfilePress plugin before 3.1.11. A public login/register widget failed to escape input correctly, allowing unauthenticated cross-site scripting. If triggered against a privileged user, the source says it could lead to wp-admin access.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation for internet-facing WordPress sites using ProfilePress. The issue is unauthenticated and may affect administrator sessions, but available evidence does not confirm active exploitation.
Technical view
CVE-2021-24522 is a CWE-79 XSS issue in ProfilePress's tabbed login/register widget. The plugin also assigned $_POST to $_GET in several places, allowing some cases to be reproduced with GET parameters instead of POST values. The provided sources do not include CVSS scoring.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to WordPress sites running ProfilePress, formerly WP User Avatar, before 3.1.11, especially where the tabbed login/register widget is present or reachable publicly.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cite active exploitation. The vulnerability is unauthenticated XSS, and the source states impact could include wp-admin access, but exploitation status is not established here.
Researcher notes
Treat this as an input-escaping failure in a public widget with unusual POST-to-GET behavior. The supplied affected metadata is sparse, so validate version exposure against the CVE and WPScan records rather than relying on CPE data.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade ProfilePress to version 3.1.11 or later.
- Confirm no affected tabbed login/register widget remains exposed before patching.
- Review vendor guidance and WPScan notes for any additional remediation.
- Check administrative accounts and recent WordPress activity for suspicious changes.
Validation and detection
- Inventory WordPress sites for ProfilePress or WP User Avatar installations.
- Confirm installed plugin versions are 3.1.11 or later.
- Identify pages exposing the tabbed login/register widget.
- Review logs for suspicious requests containing unexpected widget parameters.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-79: User-session and phishing behavior lookup
Client-side and session-facing weaknesses should be reviewed alongside initial-access and user-execution behaviors. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-24522 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/25b51add-197c-4aff-b1a8-b92fb11d8697CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.