dbcve.org
Code InjectionWeakness · CWE-94

CVE-2025-8483

MEDIUM · 6.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-10-25
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
69/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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 · unedited
The The Discussion Board – WordPress Forum Plugin plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary shortcode execution in all versions up to, and including, 2.5.5. This is due to the software allowing users to execute an action that does not properly validate a value before running do_shortcode. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to execute arbitrary shortcodes.

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 · moderate confidence

The Discussion Board WordPress plugin fails to validate user input before passing it to WordPress's do_shortcode() function. Authenticated users with Subscriber-level permissions can inject and execute arbitrary shortcodes, potentially exposing sensitive data or triggering unintended plugin/theme actions.

MitigationUpdate to the latest version of the plugin once a patch is released. Until then, restrict or disable user registration to prevent unauthenticated attacker access, and review available shortcodes for sensitive functionality.

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
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Discussion Board plugin is installed
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Discussion Board' or check the wp-content/plugins directory for a discussion-board folder
    Affected if The Discussion Board plugin is present in the installation
  2. Check installed plugin version
    In WordPress admin, click on the Discussion Board plugin to view its version, or inspect the plugin's main PHP file header for the Version field
    Affected if Version is at or below the affected version (compare to latest patched version once available)
  3. Confirm user registration is enabled
    In WordPress admin, go to Settings > General > Membership and check 'Anyone can register' - also inspect wp_options table for 'users_can_register' value = 1
    Affected if User registration is enabled ('Anyone can register' is checked)
  4. Identify Subscriber-level user accounts
    In WordPress admin, go to Users and look for any accounts with 'Subscriber' role, or query wp_usermeta where meta_key = 'wp_capabilities' and meta_value contains 'subscriber'
    Affected if There are one or more users with Subscriber role
  5. Check for sensitive shortcode exposure
    Review available plugin shortcodes (check plugin documentation or common shortcodes like [discussion_board] and [bbp-login]) to determine if any expose sensitive data or perform privileged actions
    Affected if Shortcodes with sensitive functionality are active and accessible to subscribers

A user is affected if the Discussion Board plugin is installed AND user registration is enabled AND any Subscriber-level accounts exist, allowing shortcode injection attacks.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update to the latest version of the plugin once a patch is released. Until then, restrict or disable user registration to prevent unauthenticated attacker access, and review available shortcodes for sensitive functionality.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Version 2.5.6 or latest available release (check plugins.trac.wordpress.org for current stable release)

  1. 1. Check the current installed version of The Discussion Board plugin in WordPress under Plugins > Installed Plugins
  2. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin or check plugins.trac.wordpress.org for the latest version
  3. 3. If version 2.5.6 or later is available, update the plugin to the latest version
  4. 4. After updating, verify the patch is applied by confirming the plugin version in Plugins > Installed Plugins
  5. 5. Test that shortcode execution is properly restricted to appropriate user roles
  6. 6. Consider auditing user accounts with Subscriber-level access to ensure no malicious shortcodes were injected prior to the update

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get help mitigating

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-8483 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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