---
title: "WEB-CMS-003 WordPress User Accounts Enumerable"
canonical: https://openvapt.com/checks/WEB-CMS-003.html
html: https://openvapt.com/checks/WEB-CMS-003.html
site: OpenVAPT, https://openvapt.com/
license: OpenVAPT Source-Available Licence 1.3, https://openvapt.com/legal/licence-text.html
modified: 2026-10-14
version: 0.1.0-alpha.6
---

# WEB-CMS-003 WordPress User Accounts Enumerable

Checks whether the WordPress REST API lists user accounts to anonymous visitors.

- Domain: Web Apps
- Severity: Low
- Control category: Information Exposure
- Fix effort: low
- CVSS v3.1 vector: `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N`
- CIS Controls v8: 16.7
- NIST CSF 2.0: PR.PS-01
- CWE: CWE-204
- OWASP Top 10 2021: A07:2021
- OWASP WSTG v4.2: WSTG-IDNT-04
- NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: CM-6, SI-11

## Why It Matters

A list of login names halves the work of password guessing and phishing against administrators.

## How It Detects

Requests /wp-json/wp/v2/users and fails when it returns a JSON array with user slugs. No login is attempted.

## How to Fix

Restrict the users endpoint to authenticated requests with a security plugin or a small rest_endpoints filter, and use login names that differ from public display names.

## How to Verify

```
curl -s https://<site>/wp-json/wp/v2/users  should return 401, 403 or 404.
```

## Learn the Theory

- [P6 Information Exposure and Misconfiguration](https://openvapt.com/academy/p6.md)
- [P14 CMS Hardening in Depth: WordPress, Joomla and Drupal](https://openvapt.com/academy/p14.md)

## References

- [WordPress Developer Resources, REST API Users endpoint](https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/reference/users/)

## Source Code

https://github.com/OpenVAPT/openvapt/blob/574f7f3333c44b75a3c649e2d93a76d507f75adf/internal/checks/web/exposure.go

Run it: `openvapt scan --only WEB-CMS-003`. Read it offline: `openvapt explain WEB-CMS-003`.

---

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