Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2023-52117 is a missing authorization issue in the WordPress ProfileGrid plugin through version 5.6.6. A logged-in attacker could access functionality they should not be allowed to use, with the published scoring indicating limited availability impact and no stated confidentiality or integrity impact.
Executive priority
Treat this as a routine but real WordPress exposure item. Prioritize faster for membership, community, or customer-facing sites where many untrusted users can log in. It is not presented as actively exploited in the supplied sources.
Technical view
The vulnerability is classified as CWE-862, Missing Authorization, in Metagauss ProfileGrid package profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities through 5.6.6. CVSS 3.1 is 4.3: network exploitable, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, unchanged scope, and low availability impact only.
Likely exposure
Public WordPress sites running ProfileGrid through 5.6.6 are the relevant exposure. Risk is higher where untrusted users can create or hold low-privileged accounts. The supplied sources do not identify other affected products or configurations.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. The CVSS vector indicates exploitation requires a low-privileged authenticated user and does not require user interaction.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE record and Patchstack reference. The scoring suggests an authenticated broken-access-control path affecting availability only. The bundle does not provide affected code paths, a fixed version, proof of exploitation, or vendor remediation details.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory WordPress sites for the ProfileGrid plugin and record installed versions.
- Update ProfileGrid when vendor guidance identifies a fixed release.
- If no fixed release is available, follow vendor or Patchstack workaround guidance.
- Disable the plugin where it is not business-critical.
- Restrict untrusted account creation until remediation is complete.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether any deployed ProfileGrid version is 5.6.6 or older.
- Check whether public registration or low-privileged user access is enabled.
- Review logs for unusual ProfileGrid activity by low-privileged accounts.
- Verify remediation against vendor or Patchstack advisory details.
- Do not infer compromise without supporting telemetry.
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-862: Authorization and privilege behavior lookup
Authorization weaknesses can support privilege escalation and valid-account review, depending on exploit path. 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-2023-52117 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
- Medium
- CVSS
- 4.3 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
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 vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L2.81.4Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
4.3MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Source materials
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.
Missing Authorization
Missing Authorization represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.