CVE-2025-13416
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in the ProfileGrid WordPress plugin allows authenticated users with Subscriber-level access or higher to suspend arbitrary users from groups, including administrators. It affects all versions up to and including 5.9.7.2 due to a missing capability check in the pm_deactivate_user_from_group() function.
💻 Affected Systems
- ProfileGrid – User Profiles, Groups and Communities WordPress plugin
⚠️ Manual Verification Required
This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.
Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).
🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.
- Review the CVE details at NVD
- Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
- Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
- Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Administrators could be suspended from groups, potentially disrupting site management and enabling privilege escalation if combined with other vulnerabilities.
Likely Case
Malicious users could disrupt community functionality by suspending legitimate users from groups, causing service denial and user frustration.
If Mitigated
With proper access controls and monitoring, impact would be limited to minor disruption of group functionality.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated access but is straightforward via AJAX requests to the vulnerable endpoint.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 5.9.7.3 or later
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins → Installed Plugins. 3. Find ProfileGrid plugin and click 'Update Now'. 4. Verify update to version 5.9.7.3 or later.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable ProfileGrid Plugin
allTemporarily disable the vulnerable plugin until patched
wp plugin deactivate profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities
Restrict AJAX Access
linuxBlock access to the vulnerable AJAX endpoint via web application firewall or .htaccess
# Add to .htaccess:
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} pm_deactivate_user_from_group [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict user role management and monitor for suspicious group suspension activity
- Deploy web application firewall rules to block exploitation attempts targeting the vulnerable endpoint
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel → Plugins → ProfileGrid version. If version is 5.9.7.2 or lower, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
wp plugin get profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify ProfileGrid plugin version is 5.9.7.3 or higher in WordPress admin panel.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=pm_deactivate_user_from_group from non-admin users
- Unexpected user suspensions from groups in ProfileGrid logs
Network Indicators:
- POST requests to admin-ajax.php containing pm_deactivate_user_from_group parameter
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND "admin-ajax.php" AND "pm_deactivate_user_from_group" AND NOT user_role="administrator"🔗 References
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities/tags/5.9.6.5/public/class-profile-magic-public.php#L3167
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities/trunk/public/class-profile-magic-public.php#L3167
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=3448434%40profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities&new=3448434%40profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/31c2cd54-f258-43ea-8db2-8d98ad7014d1?source=cve
