Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This WordPress plugin flaw can let a logged-in user with contributor-level access or higher view sensitive user metadata they should not see. It is not a site takeover issue, but it can expose personal or operational data stored in user profiles.
Executive priority
Treat this as a moderate-priority privacy and data-exposure issue. Patch during the next normal maintenance window, sooner for sites with many contributors, external authors, memberships, or sensitive user metadata.
Technical view
CVE-2023-6504 is an IDOR and missing authorization check in Profile Builder’s wppb_toolbox_usermeta_handler function through version 3.10.7. An authenticated attacker with contributor privileges or higher can use the user_meta shortcode path to access sensitive user metadata. CVSS is 4.3, confidentiality impact only.
Likely exposure
Exposure is mainly WordPress sites running User Profile Builder / Profile Builder versions up to and including 3.10.7, especially where contributor or higher accounts are granted to untrusted users, customers, contractors, or compromised accounts.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not identify active exploitation, and the CVE is not marked in KEV. Exploitation requires authenticated access at contributor level or above, reducing internet-wide exposure but increasing concern for membership, publishing, and multi-author WordPress sites.
Researcher notes
The key control failure is authorization in wppb_toolbox_usermeta_handler. Validate fixed builds by confirming capability checks prevent lower-privileged authenticated users from accessing other users’ metadata through the shortcode path. Do not assume wider impact beyond the cited plugin and affected versions.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Profile Builder to a vendor-fixed version newer than 3.10.7 if available.
- If an update is unavailable, check vendor guidance and consider disabling affected shortcode functionality.
- Restrict contributor-level and higher accounts to trusted users only.
- Review WordPress roles for unnecessary content-editing permissions.
- Remove or rotate exposed sensitive metadata where business impact warrants it.
Validation and detection
- Inventory WordPress sites for the Profile Builder plugin and installed version.
- Flag installations running version 3.10.7 or earlier.
- Review users with contributor, author, editor, administrator, or custom equivalent roles.
- Check whether pages or posts use the user_meta shortcode functionality.
- Review audit logs for unusual edits or shortcode use by lower-privileged users.
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-639: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. 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 lookupCWE-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-2023-6504 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:L/I:N/A:N
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:L/I:N/A:N2.81.4Primary 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:L/I:N/A:N
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.
Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.
Missing Authorization
Missing Authorization represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.