Vulnerability report

High confidence Not in CISA KEV

CVE-2021-34621

ProfilePress 3.0 - 3.1.3 - Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation

ProfilePress · 3.0.0 to <= 3.1.3

Watch CVE-2021-34621 Browse KEV feed
Severity
CVSS 9.8 · Critical
Confidence
High
Exploit status
PoC available
EPSS
68.9%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2021-34621 is an unauthenticated ProfilePress 3.0 - 3.1.3 - Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation. A vulnerability in the user registration component found in the ~/src/Classes/RegistrationAuth.php file of the...

Have exploitation attempts been observed?

Yes. Exploitation attempts have been reported for this vulnerability. Previdian lists it as a known exploited vulnerability. Also reported by third-party sources. Confidence is high.

Who is affected?

ProfilePress 3.0.0 to <= 3.1.3.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

ProfilePress 3.0 - 3.1.3 - Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation

A vulnerability in the user registration component found in the ~/src/Classes/RegistrationAuth.php file of the ProfilePress WordPress plugin made it possible for users to register on sites as an administrator. This issue affects versions 3.0.0 - 3.1.3.

.

properfraction Affected
profilepress
Through 3.1.3
ProfilePress Affected
ProfilePress
3.0.0 - 3.1.3
Published
07 Jul 2021
Exploitation Attempts Reported
28 Jun 2021
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None

Tags

wordpress php nuclei_scanner

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Evidence of exploitation attempts

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Proof of concept available

GitHub

Recorded 30 Sep 2023

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the Previdian Pro API.

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Source Added
Wordfence First 2021-06-28 11:22 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
User-Agents
Callback hosts
0
0
0

Request targets and User-Agents available in Pro. Callback host details available in Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No Previdian virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Nuclei https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2021/CVE-2021-34621.yaml 25 Apr 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

9.8 Critical

Potential damage if exploited. Separate from whether attackers are using it.

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

EPSS

68.9%

Estimated chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Previdian's warning comes from evidence, not this score.

Weaknesses

Improper Privilege Management CWE-269

All CVSS Scores

CVSS v3.1 9.8 Critical

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

CVSS v2.0 7.5 High

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

WordPress ProfilePress 3.0.0-3.1.3 - Admin User Creation Weakness

nuclei · Created Unknown

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation attempts

  1. 14:20 UTC

    Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  2. 00:00 UTC

    Nuclei template available

    Scanner coverage available

  3. 12:21 UTC

    CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  4. 11:22 UTC

    Added to Previdian KEV Feed

    High-confidence, third-party report of exploitation attempts

  5. 00:00 UTC

    CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

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  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2021-34621

Sample API response 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2021-34621",
  "confidence": "High",
  "cvss_score": 9.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.68862,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": false,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}