# CVE-2023-2440: UserPro <= 5.1.1 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Privilege Escalation

> Unauthenticated attackers can escalate privileges to administrator via CSRF by tricking admins into clicking a link in UserPro plugin.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 22 Nov 2023
- **Updated:** 8 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-qr52-qv42-7xcm

## What is CVE-2023-2440?

CVE-2023-2440 is a high-severity vulnerability in UserPro - Community and User Profile WordPress Plugin, published on 22 Nov 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

The UserPro plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in versions up to, and including, 5.1.1. This is due to missing nonce validation in the 'admin_page', 'userpro_verify_user' and 'verifyUnverifyAllUsers' functions. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to modify the role of verified users to elevate verified user privileges to that of any user such as 'administrator' via a forged request granted they can trick a site administrator into performing an action such as clicking on a link.

Weakness: CWE-352 (Cross-Site Request Forgery)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-2440?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Userproplugin Userpro.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-2440?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-2440 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-2440 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-2440 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in UserPro - Community and User Profile WordPress Plugin

- [CVE-2024-35700](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-35700/): WordPress UserPro plugin <= 5.1.8 - Unauthenticated Account Takeover vulnerability (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2023-2437](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-2437/): UserPro <= 5.1.1 - Authentication Bypass to Administrator (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2023-2449](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-2449/): UserPro <= 5.1.1 - Insecure Password Reset Mechanism (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-16562](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-16562/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2023-2497](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-2497/): UserPro <= 5.1.0 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to PHP Object Injection (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-2440 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-2440 is a high-severity vulnerability in UserPro - Community and User Profile WordPress Plugin, published on 22 Nov 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-2440 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: UserPro - Community and User Profile WordPress Plugin. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-2440/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-2440/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-2440
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-2440
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-2440

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-2440/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.