CVE-2025-22349

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-22349 is a critical SQL Injection vulnerability discovered in the WordPress Auction Plugin (wp-auctions) by WP Marka, affecting all versions up to and including 3.7. The vulnerability stems from improper neutralization of special elements used in an SQL command, allowing unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary SQL queries. This can lead to unauthorized access to the underlying database, potentially exposing sensitive user data, credentials, and other stored information. The CVSS score of 7.6 (High) reflects the ease of exploitation (network-based, low complexity, no privileges required) and the high impact on confidentiality and integrity. As of this report, no official patch has been released, and no public proof-of-concept (PoC) code is available, making proactive detection and mitigation critical.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability affects a WordPress plugin distributed through the official WordPress plugin repository and third-party marketplaces. Organizations using this plugin should immediately assess their exposure, as the supply chain risk is elevated due to the lack of a patch. Attackers may target outdated installations via automated scanning.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• Attack Vector (AV): Network (N) – Exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low (L) – No special conditions required.
• Privileges Required (PR): None (N) – No authentication needed.
• User Interaction (UI): None (N) – No user action required.
• Scope (S): Unchanged (U) – Vulnerability does not affect other components.
• Confidentiality (C): High (H) – Full database read access possible.
• Integrity (I): High (H) – Data can be modified or deleted.
• Availability (A): None (N) – No direct impact on availability.

Threat Level: High. The combination of network exploitability, no authentication, and high data impact makes this a priority for remediation.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability exists in the wp-auctions plugin's handling of user-supplied input within SQL queries. The plugin likely fails to sanitize or parameterize input passed to functions like $wpdb->query() or $wpdb->get_results(). An attacker can inject malicious SQL payloads via HTTP parameters (e.g., GET/POST variables) that are directly concatenated into SQL statements.

Example vulnerable code pattern (hypothetical):

$auction_id = $_GET['auction_id'];
$results = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT * FROM wp_auctions WHERE id = $auction_id");

An attacker could supply 1 OR 1=1 to dump all auctions, or use UNION-based injection to extract data from other tables.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (wp-auctions <= 3.7):

// No input sanitization or prepared statements
$search_term = $_POST['search'];
$query = "SELECT * FROM wp_auction_items WHERE name LIKE '%$search_term%'";
$results = $wpdb->get_results($query);

Patched Code (hypothetical fix):

// Use prepared statements
$search_term = $_POST['search'];
$query = $wpdb->prepare("SELECT * FROM wp_auction_items WHERE name LIKE %s", '%' . $wpdb->esc_like($search_term) . '%');
$results = $wpdb->get_results($query);

The patched version uses $wpdb->prepare() with placeholders and esc_like() to safely handle user input.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Offensive)

Lab Setup:

1. Install WordPress with wp-auctions plugin version 3.7.
2. Use a local environment (e.g., XAMPP, Docker) with a test database.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify vulnerable endpoints (e.g., /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=auction_search).
2. Inject SQL payloads via parameter fuzzing.
3. Example payload for time-based blind injection:

   search=test' AND SLEEP(5)--
   

4. For data extraction, use UNION-based injection:

   auction_id=1 UNION SELECT user_login,user_pass,user_email FROM wp_users--
   

Note: No public exploit code is available; this is a hypothetical demonstration.

Blue Team (Defensive)

Detection:

• Monitor for SQL error messages in logs (e.g., You have an error in your SQL syntax).
• Look for abnormal HTTP requests containing SQL keywords (UNION, SELECT, SLEEP, OR 1=1).
• Use WAF rules to block common SQLi patterns.

Mitigation:

• Immediately disable the plugin if no patch is available.
• Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with SQLi rules.
• Restrict database user privileges to least privilege.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:

  • HTTP requests containing SQL keywords in parameters (e.g., ?auction_id=1 UNION SELECT).
  • Unusual database error messages in HTTP responses.
  • Outbound database connections from the web server to unexpected IPs.

• File IOCs:

  • Modified plugin files (e.g., wp-content/plugins/wp-auctions/).
  • Suspicious PHP files uploaded via SQL injection (e.g., webshells).

• Log IOCs:

  • WordPress debug log entries with SQL errors.
  • Web server access logs with %27 (URL-encoded single quote) or UNION in query strings.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_22349_SQLi_WordPress_Auction {
    meta:
        description = "Detects SQL injection attempts targeting wp-auctions plugin"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-22349"
    strings:
        $sqli1 = /(UNION|SELECT|INSERT|UPDATE|DELETE|DROP|SLEEP|BENCHMARK)/i
        $sqli2 = /(\%27|%22|%3B|%23|--)/i
        $plugin_path = /wp-auctions/i
    condition:
        $plugin_path and ($sqli1 or $sqli2)
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-22349 WordPress Auction Plugin SQL Injection
id: 7a8b9c0d-1e2f-3a4b-5c6d-7e8f9a0b1c2d
status: experimental
description: Detects SQL injection attempts against wp-auctions plugin
author: Valters IT
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        c-uri|contains: '/wp-content/plugins/wp-auctions/'
        cs-method: 'GET'
        cs-uri-query|contains:
            - 'UNION'
            - 'SELECT'
            - 'SLEEP'
            - 'OR 1=1'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of search terms containing SQL keywords (rare)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-22349 WordPress Auction Plugin SQL Injection"; flow:to_server,established; content:"/wp-content/plugins/wp-auctions/"; http_uri; content:"UNION"; http_uri; nocase; content:"SELECT"; http_uri; nocase; distance:0; within:100; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

1. Immediate Action: Disable the wp-auctions plugin until a patch is released.
2. Short-term: Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with custom rules to block SQLi patterns.
3. Long-term: Monitor the vendor's website for updates. If no patch is forthcoming, consider replacing the plugin with an alternative.
4. Database Hardening: Ensure the WordPress database user has minimal privileges (e.g., no DROP or CREATE).
5. Logging: Enable detailed logging for web requests and database queries to aid in forensic analysis.

Report generated by Valters IT DevSecOps & CTI Division.