Profile Builder – User Profile & User Registration Forms <= 3.9.0 - Insecure Password Reset Mechanism
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 3.9.1
- Affected Plugin
- User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor
- Affected Version
<= 3.9.0- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-620 · Unverified Password Change
- CVE
CVE-2023-2297
At a glance
CVE-2023-2297 is a critical-severity Unverified Password Change vulnerability in the User Profile Builder WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.9.0. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.9.1; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed February 2023, reported by István Márton.
Vulnerability Overview
The Profile Builder – User Profile & User Registration Forms plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized password resets in versions up to, and including 3.9.0. This is due to the plugin using native password reset functionality, with insufficient validation on the password reset function (wppb_front_end_password_recovery). The function uses the plaintext value of a password reset key instead of a hashed value which means it can easily be retrieved and subsequently used. An attacker can leverage CVE-2023-0814, or another vulnerability like SQL Injection in another plugin or theme installed on the site to successfully exploit this vulnerability.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no privileges on the target site, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-620: Unverified Password Change
Reaching this weakness in User Profile Builder <= 3.9.0 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Unverified password change means the password-update path does not require proof that the requester is the account owner.
An attacker who can reach the endpoint takes over the account outright, and the legitimate owner is locked out of it. For User Profile Builder the fix is 3.9.1: builds <= 3.9.0 are affected, anything from 3.9.1 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 3.9.1, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: User Profile Builder 3.9.1 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
Other vulnerabilities in User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor
- 9.8CVE-2026-15826: User Profile Builder <= 3.16.4 Authentication Bypass
CVE-2026-15826 - 9.8CVE-2024-6695: User Profile Builder Authentication Bypass
CVE-2024-6695 - 9.8CVE-2021-24527: Profile Builder <= 3.4.8 Admin Access
CVE-2021-24527 - 9.8Profile Builder <= 3.1.0 Privilege Escalation
- 9.8Profile Builder Authentication Bypass
- 8.8CVE-2021-36915: Profile Builder CSRF
CVE-2021-36915 - 8.8Profile Builder/Profile Builder Pro <= 3.3.2 Blind SQL Injection
- 8.8Profile Builder <= 2.4.0 Privilege Escalation
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C