CVE-2026-18385
Paid Membership Plugin, Ecommerce, User Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content <= 4.16.19 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary Shortcode Execution via First Name / Last Name Profile Field
Description
The The 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, 4.16.19. 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. The partial mitigation introduced via strip_shortcodes() on [profile-first-name] and [profile-last-name] can be bypassed through the [profile-display-name format="first_last_names"] render path, the [profile-bio] render path (which re-fetches the raw description meta), and the double-bracket escape sequence [[tag]], all of which allow attacker-controlled shortcode text to reach the outer do_shortcode() call.
INFO
Published Date :
Aug. 16, 2026, 5:16 a.m.
Last Modified :
Aug. 16, 2026, 5:16 a.m.
Remotely Exploit :
Yes !
Source :
[email protected]
Affected Products
The following products are affected by CVE-2026-18385
vulnerability.
Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the
products
that
are
affected, the information is not represented in the table below.
No affected product recoded yet
CVSS Scores
| Score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability Score | Impact Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM | [email protected] |
Solution
- Update the ProfilePress plugin to the latest version.
- Validate all user-supplied input for shortcode execution.
- Sanitize shortcode data before processing.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2026-18385.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-18385 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-18385
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2026-18385 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-18385 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
-
New CVE Received by [email protected]
Aug. 16, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Affected [{'vendor': 'properfraction', 'product': 'Paid Membership Plugin, Ecommerce, User Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content – ProfilePress', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '0', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '4.16.19'}], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}] Added Description The The 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, 4.16.19. 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. The partial mitigation introduced via strip_shortcodes() on [profile-first-name] and [profile-last-name] can be bypassed through the [profile-display-name format="first_last_names"] render path, the [profile-bio] render path (which re-fetches the raw description meta), and the double-bracket escape sequence [[tag]], all of which allow attacker-controlled shortcode text to reach the outer do_shortcode() call. Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N Added CWE CWE-94 Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-user-avatar/tags/4.16.15/src/Classes/RegistrationAuth.php#L170 Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-user-avatar/tags/4.16.15/src/ShortcodeParser/Builder/FrontendProfileBuilder.php#L286 Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-user-avatar/tags/4.16.15/src/ShortcodeParser/MemberDirectoryTag.php#L98 Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-user-avatar/tags/4.16.15/src/Themes/DragDrop/MemberDirectoryListing.php#L90 Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-user-avatar/tags/4.16.19/src/Classes/RegistrationAuth.php#L170 Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-user-avatar/tags/4.16.19/src/ShortcodeParser/Builder/FrontendProfileBuilder.php#L286 Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-user-avatar/tags/4.16.19/src/ShortcodeParser/MemberDirectoryTag.php#L98 Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-user-avatar/tags/4.16.19/src/Themes/DragDrop/MemberDirectoryListing.php#L90 Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?reponame=&old=3635466%40wp-user-avatar&new=3635466%40wp-user-avatar Added Reference https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/345f3354-d2cb-4b92-a25d-9551a5992919?source=cve