Plugin Name	Profile Builder Pro
Type of Vulnerability	SQL Injection
CVE Number	CVE-2026-27413
Urgency	High
CVE Publish Date	2026-02-25
Source URL	CVE-2026-27413

Urgent Security Advisory — SQL Injection in Profile Builder Pro (<= 3.13.9): Critical Actions for WordPress Site Owners

On February 23, 2026, a high-severity SQL Injection vulnerability (CVE-2026-27413) affecting Profile Builder Pro versions up to and including 3.13.9 was publicly disclosed. This flaw permits unauthenticated attackers to inject malicious SQL commands into database queries executed by the plugin, posing a severe threat with a CVSS score of 9.3. Classified as an OWASP A3 (Injection) vulnerability, it allows direct database interaction and is likely to be exploited swiftly.

This advisory outlines the risk clearly, provides immediate mitigation steps, summarizes development guidance, and details how Managed-WP safeguards your WordPress environment, including protections available under our free Basic plan. If your site relies on Profile Builder Pro, address this vulnerability without delay.

---

Summary of Immediate Actions

• Affected: Profile Builder Pro versions ≤ 3.13.9
• Vulnerability: Unauthenticated SQL Injection (CVE-2026-27413)
• Severity: High (CVSS 9.3)
• Recommended steps:
  1. Verify your installed plugin version and confirm if it is vulnerable.
  2. If no official patch is yet available, disable the plugin immediately.
  3. Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) virtual patch to block exploitation attempts.
  4. Conduct a thorough scan for indicators of compromise (IoCs) and unauthorized accounts.
  5. Create a full backup; if compromised, isolate and remediate following incident response guidance below.
• Managed-WP users: Enable our advanced WAF ruleset and malware scanner immediately; our free plan includes essential protections.

---

Understanding SQL Injection: The Core Threat

SQL Injection allows attackers to manipulate your site’s database by embedding malicious SQL queries into seemingly harmless inputs. Consequences include:

• Unauthorized data access (user credentials, private content, emails)
• Data modification or deletion (including user roles and tables)
• Creation of rogue admin accounts granting persistent access
• Insertion of backdoors leading to remote code execution
• Privilege escalation and lateral movement across systems

Because an unauthenticated SQLi requires no login, this vulnerability exposes WordPress sites to extreme risk. Immediate mitigation is imperative.

---

Profile Builder Pro Vulnerability Details (CVE-2026-27413)

• Software: Profile Builder Pro (WordPress plugin)
• Affected Versions: ≤ 3.13.9
• Vulnerability Type: Unauthenticated SQL Injection
• CVE Identifier: CVE-2026-27413
• CVSS Score: 9.3 (High)
• Disclosure Date: February 23, 2026
• Patch Status: No official patch at time of disclosure; verify vendor updates regularly and apply immediately

Attackers can craft specially-crafted HTTP requests that inject SQL commands through plugin-handled parameters. Without authentication requirements, remote exploitation is straightforward, especially for sites allowing public profile submissions or AJAX requests via this plugin.

---

Why Exploitation Will Accelerate Rapidly

• High impact: Compromises include exposure of personal and financial data.
• Minimal complexity: No credentials required to exploit.
• Availability of automated exploit tools soon after disclosure.
• High-value targets: Membership sites and ecommerce platforms often run this plugin.

Site owners should assume attackers are actively scanning for flaws and prioritizing remediation accordingly.

---

Who Should Be Most Concerned?

• Sites actively using Profile Builder Pro that have not applied vendor updates.
• Membership or user-data-centric websites.
• Multisite WordPress installations where one vulnerable plugin jeopardizes multiple sites.
• Sites lacking Web Application Firewall protections or robust monitoring.
• Sites without recent complete backups or established incident response plans.

---

Recommended Immediate Steps — Prioritized Guidance for Site Owners

1. Confirm your plugin version
   • Visit WordPress Admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins to check the Profile Builder Pro version.
   • Versions ≤ 3.13.9 are vulnerable; treat sites with these versions as high-risk.
2. Apply official vendor patch immediately (if available)
   • Deploy security updates as soon as they become available; test updates on staging environments first.
3. Disable the plugin if patch unavailable
   • Deactivate via WordPress Admin or remove files directly via SFTP/SSH.
   • Note: Plugin deactivation may disrupt user registration/login; communicate alternatives to users (e.g., maintenance mode pages, contact emails).
4. Deploy a WAF virtual patch
   • If you use Managed-WP WAF or compatible services, enable emergency rules blocking injection attempts targeting this plugin.
   • Block malicious patterns like SQL metacharacters in plugin-specific endpoints.
   • Implement global rate limiting and IP blacklisting for suspicious traffic.

   Virtual patching is an essential stopgap, blocking attacks at the perimeter while code-level fixes are rolled out.

5. Execute a full malware and file integrity scan
   • Look for unexpected, modified, or malicious files (especially PHP scripts) on your server.
   • Compare files against trusted baselines or official plugin core files.
6. Audit user accounts and credentials
   • Review all accounts with elevated privileges and remove unauthorized users.
   • Reset all administrator passwords and rotate database user credentials and salts if compromise is suspected.
7. Review web logs
   • Identify suspicious HTTP requests containing SQLi payloads such as ' OR 1=1, UNION SELECT, or functions like sleep( and benchmark(.
8. Create full backups
   • Backup all WordPress files and databases before remediation. Preserve for forensics.
9. Implement maintenance mode, if active attacks detected
   • Temporarily take the site offline to prevent data loss and further damage during investigation.
10. Follow incident response guidelines if compromised

---

How Managed-WP Protects Your WordPress Site

Managed-WP provides layered, expert-driven defenses tailored for WordPress ecosystems:

• Managed Web Application Firewall (WAF): Virtual patching rules block threats targeting this and similar vulnerabilities immediately.
• Real-time malware scanning: Detects backdoors, modified files, and suspicious payloads.
• OWASP Top 10 mitigation: Specialized protections against injection attacks and other critical vulnerabilities.
• Unlimited bandwidth: Enterprise-grade firewall protection without throttling legitimate traffic.
• Comprehensive logging and alerts: Standard and Pro plans include detailed reports and proactive notifications.

If you are not yet protected, our free Basic plan offers essential WAF coverage and malware scanning, providing critical immediate defense while you patch or remove the vulnerable plugin.

---

Development Recommendations: Preventing SQL Injection in Profile Builder Pro

Developers maintaining Profile Builder Pro or similar WordPress plugins should follow these best practices to eliminate SQL Injection risks:

1. Utilize WordPress database API securely
   • Never concatenate SQL queries with untrusted input.
   • Use $wpdb->prepare() for all dynamic query parameters to ensure proper escaping and binding.

   Unsafe:

   global $wpdb;
   $search = $_GET['search'];
   $sql = "SELECT * FROM {$wpdb->prefix}users WHERE user_login LIKE '%" . $search . "%'";
   $rows = $wpdb->get_results($sql);
   

   Safe:

   global $wpdb;
   $search = '%' . $wpdb->esc_like( sanitize_text_field( $_GET['search'] ?? '' ) ) . '%';
   $sql = $wpdb->prepare(
       "SELECT * FROM {$wpdb->users} WHERE user_login LIKE %s",
       $search
   );
   $rows = $wpdb->get_results( $sql );
   

2. Leverage $wpdb methods for data manipulation
   • Use $wpdb->insert(), $wpdb->update(), and $wpdb->delete() to safely handle queries that modify data.
3. Input validation and sanitization
   • Apply appropriate sanitization functions such as sanitize_text_field(), intval(), and wp_kses_post().
   • Enforce regex or length checks to reject invalid or suspicious input early.
4. Prepared statements for dynamic IN clauses
   • Create placeholders for each value and bind variables safely.

   Example:

   $ids = array_map( 'intval', $ids_array );
   $placeholders = implode( ',', array_fill( 0, count( $ids ), '%d' ) );
   $sql = $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT * FROM {$wpdb->posts} WHERE ID IN ($placeholders)", $ids );
   

   Do not run the query if $ids is empty.

5. Capability checks and nonce verification
   • Apply current_user_can() and wp_verify_nonce() for all data-modifying or sensitive AJAX/endpoints.
   • Limit exposure on public endpoints and sanitize output rigorously.
6. Avoid detailed DB error messages in responses
   • Do not leak database schema or SQL error details to users; log internally but expose generic errors.
7. Security testing and fuzzing
   • Include automated tests simulating injection attempts to verify proper query parameterization.

Following these secure coding standards prevents SQL injection at the source.

---

Indicators of Compromise (IoCs) You Should Check Immediately

• Unrecognized new administrator users.
• Unexpected changes to critical options in the wp_options table (e.g., siteurl, home, active_plugins).
• Presence of unfamiliar PHP files in wp-content/uploads or other writable directories.
• Modified theme or plugin files containing obfuscated or suspicious code (base64_decode, eval, gzinflate, etc.).
• Suspicious database queries referencing system tables like information_schema.
• High network activity or repeated suspicious requests to plugin-related endpoints.
• Unknown or rogue scheduled tasks or cron jobs.
• Unexpected outbound connections from the server.
• Sudden spikes in database CPU usage or slow query logs.

Presence of these signs strongly indicates an active compromise and demands immediate action.

---

Incident Response Playbook

1. Isolate the environment
   • Enable maintenance mode or temporarily take the site offline.
   • Block malicious IP addresses and restrict access to vulnerable plugin endpoints.
2. Preserve evidence
   • Create comprehensive backups (files + database) before changes.
   • Secure server logs and timestamps for forensics.
   • Maintain read-only copies if engaging external investigators.
3. Identify and contain the intrusion
   • Locate backdoors, unauthorized accounts, and changed files.
   • Remove and quarantine compromised components.
4. Eradicate the threat
   • Update or remove vulnerable plugin code; apply virtual patching if immediate updates unavailable.
   • Replace altered files with verified clean copies.
   • Rotate all relevant credentials, including WordPress admin passwords, API keys, database users, and hosting access credentials.
5. Recover operations
   • Restore from a clean backup if necessary.
   • Strengthen defenses: implement WAF, tighten file permissions, restrict DB privileges, and activate security monitoring.
6. Conduct post-incident review
   • Analyze attack vectors to prevent recurrence.
   • Enhance monitoring and scanning automation.
   • Document findings and update your incident response procedures.
7. Notify relevant parties
   • Comply with breach notification regulations if personal data was exposed.

---

Safe Testing Recommendations

• Never test exploit payloads on a live production site.
• Use dedicated staging environments that emulate production for testing WAF rules and plugin behavior.
• Monitor false positives and whitelist trusted IP addresses or endpoints as appropriate.
• Maintain logs of blocked requests to refine firewall rules without impacting legitimate users.

---

Long-term Security Hardening Guidance

• Maintain up-to-date WordPress core, themes, and plugins with regular weekly reviews.
• Use Web Application Firewalls for perimeter defense and zero-day protection through virtual patching.
• Reduce database user privileges to minimum necessary (e.g., only SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE).
• Enforce strong passwords and enable two-factor authentication for all admin accounts.
• Retain immutable backups offsite with at least 30-day retention and conduct regular restoration drills.
• Schedule regular security audits and source code reviews for custom development.
• Centralize and monitor logs (web server, application, database) with anomaly detection.
• Implement File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) to detect unauthorized changes.

---

Managed-WP: Accelerating Your Security Response

As a dedicated WordPress security expert, Managed-WP focuses on:

• Prevention: Continuous threat intelligence and signature updates to reduce exposure windows.
• Rapid mitigation: Immediate virtual patch deployment blocking exploit traffic on discovery of critical vulnerabilities.
• Detection: Robust scanning, logging, and alerting tools provide full visibility into exploitation attempts.
• Recovery support: Expert guidance and managed remediation services to restore site integrity.

If you have not yet activated Managed-WP perimeter protection, our free Basic tier offers immediate WAF and scanning benefits while you plan long-term remediation.

---

Get Started Now with Managed-WP Basic Protection (Free)

For immediate essential protection against this SQL injection threat, Managed-WP’s Basic (Free) plan includes:

• Managed firewall with advanced Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules
• Unlimited bandwidth protection without traffic throttling
• Malware scanning of files and database content
• Protection against OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities including SQL Injection

Signing up is quick and free — begin blocking exploit attempts through virtual patching right away, while preparing to patch or disable the vulnerable plugin.

Upgrading unlocks greater capabilities:

• Standard ($50/year): Adds automatic malware removal and support for IP blacklisting/whitelisting.
• Pro ($299/year): Includes monthly security reports, automated virtual patching, premium add-ons like Dedicated Account Manager, Security Optimization, WP Support Token, Managed WP Service, and Managed Security Service.

Signup here: https://my.wp-firewall.com/buy/wp-firewall-free-plan/

---

Practical Security Checklist

• Confirm Profile Builder Pro is installed and check version.
• If version ≤ 3.13.9 and no patch exists, deactivate plugin immediately.
• Enable a Web Application Firewall and deploy virtual patching to block SQLi payloads.
• Create a full backup of the site and database.
• Perform malware and file integrity scans.
• Audit all users and reset admin passwords.
• Review logs and monitor for suspicious activity and IoCs.
• Follow incident response steps immediately if compromise is suspected.
• Subscribe to Managed-WP or another managed security service if internal resources are limited.

---

Final Thoughts from Managed-WP Security Experts

SQL Injection vulnerabilities directly compromise your data integrity and privacy, with unauthenticated injection flaws posing the highest risks. If you have Profile Builder Pro installed, act with urgency to safeguard your site.

If you need hands-on assistance—from deploying virtual patches and conducting forensic scans to recovery and ongoing monitoring—partner with Managed-WP for expert WordPress security services designed to contain threats rapidly and securely.

Your WordPress website’s protection depends on swift verification, WAF deployment, comprehensive scanning, and rigorous incident response.

— Managed-WP Security Team

---

Take Proactive Action — Secure Your Site with Managed-WP

Don’t risk your business or reputation due to overlooked plugin flaws or weak permissions. Managed-WP provides robust Web Application Firewall (WAF) protection, tailored vulnerability response, and hands-on remediation for WordPress security that goes far beyond standard hosting services.​

Exclusive Offer for Blog Readers: Access our MWPv1r1 protection plan—industry-grade security starting from just USD20/month.

• Automated virtual patching and advanced role-based traffic filtering
• Personalized onboarding and step-by-step site security checklist
• Real-time monitoring, incident alerts, and priority remediation support
• Actionable best-practice guides for secrets management and role hardening

Get Started Easily — Secure Your Site for USD20/month:
Protect My Site with Managed-WP MWPv1r1 Plan

Why trust Managed-WP?

• Immediate coverage against newly discovered plugin and theme vulnerabilities
• Custom WAF rules and instant virtual patching for high-risk scenarios
• Concierge onboarding, expert remediation, and best-practice advice whenever you need it

Don’t wait for the next security breach. Safeguard your WordPress site and reputation with Managed-WP—the choice for businesses serious about security.

Click above to start your protection today (MWPv1r1 plan, USD20/month).