CVE-2025-13642
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe Paid Membership Plugin, Ecommerce, User Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content – ProfilePress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary shortcode execution in all versions up to, and including, 4.16.7 due to insufficient input sanitization on the `type` parameter in the form preview functionality. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to execute arbitrary shortcodes via the `pp_preview_form` endpoint.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe ProfilePress WordPress plugin versions up to 4.16.7 fail to properly sanitize the 'type' parameter in the form preview functionality at the pp_preview_form endpoint, allowing authenticated users with Subscriber-level access or higher to inject and execute arbitrary shortcodes.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check ProfilePress plugin versionNavigate to WordPress admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins > ProfilePress and locate the version number displayed under the plugin nameAffected if Version is 4.16.7 or lower (any version up to and including 4.16.7)
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Confirm pp_preview_form endpoint existsAccess the URL pattern /?pp_preview_form=1 or /wp-admin/?pp_preview_form=1 while logged in as a user with Subscriber-level access or higherAffected if The endpoint responds without returning a 404 or access denied error, indicating the vulnerable functionality is present
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Verify user role accessIn WordPress admin, go to Users > All Users and check if any users exist with the Subscriber role (or any custom role ranked Subscriber or higher)Affected if At least one user account with Subscriber-level access or higher exists in the WordPress installation
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Test shortcode execution capabilityWith a Subscriber-level account, submit a request to the pp_preview_form endpoint with a malicious 'type' parameter value containing a shortcode (e.g., type=[shortcode])Affected if The shortcode is parsed and rendered in the response, confirming the injection vulnerability is exploitable
If ProfilePress version is 4.16.7 or lower AND the pp_preview_form endpoint is accessible to at least Subscriber-level users, the environment is affected by this CVE.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scopedUpdate ProfilePress plugin to version 4.16.8 or later. If immediate update is not possible, restrict access to the pp_preview_form endpoint or disable the preview functionality until the patch can be applied.
ProfilePress version 4.16.8 or later
- Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard
- Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
- Locate the ProfilePress plugin in the plugin list
- If an update is available, click 'Update Now' to install the latest version
- Alternatively, download the latest version from the official WordPress plugin repository at wordpress.org/plugins/profilepress/ and upload it manually via Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin
- After updating, verify the plugin is running version 4.16.8 or higher under Plugins > Installed Plugins
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-13642 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-13642 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data