CVE-2025-2511

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-2511 is a time-based blind SQL Injection vulnerability discovered in the AHAthat Plugin for WordPress, affecting all versions up to and including 1.6. The flaw resides in insufficient escaping of the id parameter and lack of prepared statements in the SQL query. An authenticated attacker with Administrator-level privileges can inject malicious SQL payloads, enabling extraction of sensitive data from the database. The vulnerability is currently unpatched, and no public proof-of-concept (PoC) or exploit code has been released. The EPSS score is 0.0%, indicating low exploitation likelihood at this time, but the risk remains significant for high-value WordPress installations.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability affects a WordPress plugin distributed via the official WordPress plugin repository. Administrators should monitor for updates from the vendor (Ahathat) and consider removing the plugin if no patch is forthcoming. No known supply chain compromise has been reported.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 4.9 (Medium)
• Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
• Attack Vector: Network
• Attack Complexity: Low
• Privileges Required: High (Administrator)
• User Interaction: None
• Scope: Unchanged
• Confidentiality Impact: High
• Integrity Impact: None
• Availability Impact: None

Threat Level: Medium. While the CVSS score is moderate due to the high privilege requirement, the potential for data exfiltration (e.g., user credentials, configuration secrets) elevates the risk for environments where administrative accounts are compromised or shared.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability exists in the AHAthat Plugin's handling of the id parameter, likely within an AJAX handler or shortcode processing function. The plugin fails to properly escape user-supplied input and does not use parameterized queries. This allows an authenticated administrator to inject SQL commands via the id parameter, which are then executed against the WordPress database.

Root Cause: The plugin uses string concatenation to build SQL queries without sanitizing the id parameter. For example:

$id = $_GET['id'];
$query = "SELECT * FROM wp_ahathat_data WHERE id = $id";
$result = $wpdb->get_results($query);

Exploitation Mechanism: An attacker can inject a time-based payload such as:

1 AND SLEEP(5)

If the response is delayed by 5 seconds, the injection is confirmed. Blind extraction of data can then be performed using conditional time delays (e.g., IF(SUBSTRING(...), SLEEP(5), 0)).

Impact: Successful exploitation allows extraction of any data from the WordPress database, including user hashes, session tokens, and sensitive plugin configurations.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (v1.6):

// In vulnerable version, direct concatenation
$id = $_GET['id'];
$results = $wpdb->get_results( "SELECT * FROM {$wpdb->prefix}ahathat_data WHERE id = $id" );

Patched Code (Hypothetical):

// Patched version uses prepared statement
$id = intval( $_GET['id'] );
$results = $wpdb->get_results( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT * FROM {$wpdb->prefix}ahathat_data WHERE id = %d", $id ) );

Key Difference: The patched version casts the id to an integer and uses $wpdb->prepare() to safely parameterize the query, preventing SQL injection.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Offensive)

Prerequisites:

• WordPress instance with AHAthat Plugin v1.6 installed.
• Administrator-level credentials (e.g., admin user).

Steps:

1. Authenticate to WordPress as an administrator.
2. Identify the vulnerable endpoint (e.g., /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=ahathat_get_data&id=1).
3. Test for time-based injection:

   curl -b "wordpress_logged_in_xxx=admin_cookie" \
        "http://target/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=ahathat_get_data&id=1 AND SLEEP(5)"
   

4. If response is delayed, proceed with blind extraction:

   id=1 AND IF((SELECT SUBSTRING(user_pass,1,1) FROM wp_users LIMIT 1)='$', SLEEP(5), 0)
   

5. Automate extraction using a script (e.g., Python with requests).

No public exploit code is available.

Blue Team (Defensive)

Detection:

• Monitor for unusual SQL query patterns in database logs.
• Look for HTTP requests with SLEEP, BENCHMARK, or IF in the id parameter.
• Alert on administrator-level accounts making repeated requests to the vulnerable endpoint.

Mitigation:

• Immediately disable or remove the AHAthat Plugin until a patch is released.
• Restrict administrator access to trusted IPs only.
• Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block SQL injection patterns.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:

  • HTTP requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=ahathat_get_data and id parameter containing SQL keywords (SLEEP, BENCHMARK, UNION, SELECT).
  • Unusual response delays (e.g., 5+ seconds) from the same endpoint.

• Host IOCs:

  • Database logs showing queries with SLEEP() or BENCHMARK() functions.
  • Presence of unexpected administrator-level user accounts or changes to existing admin accounts.

• File IOCs:

  • Modified wp-content/plugins/ahathat/ files (check file integrity hashes).

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_2511_AHAthat_SQLi {
    meta:
        description = "Detects SQL injection attempts against AHAthat Plugin"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-2511"
    strings:
        $sqli1 = "SLEEP(" ascii nocase
        $sqli2 = "BENCHMARK(" ascii nocase
        $sqli3 = " UNION SELECT " ascii nocase
        $sqli4 = " OR 1=1" ascii nocase
        $param = "ahathat_get_data" ascii nocase
    condition:
        any of ($sqli*) and $param
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-2511 AHAthat Plugin SQL Injection Attempt
id: 8a3f7c2e-5d1b-4a9f-8c6e-2b3d1f0a9e7c
status: experimental
description: Detects SQL injection attempts targeting the AHAthat WordPress plugin
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'GET'
        c-uri|contains: '/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'action=ahathat_get_data'
        cs-uri-query|contains|all:
            - 'id='
            - 'SLEEP('
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of SLEEP function (unlikely)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-2511 AHAthat Plugin SQL Injection Attempt"; flow:to_server,established; content:"/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php"; http_uri; content:"action=ahathat_get_data"; http_uri; content:"id="; http_uri; pcre:"/SLEEP\(|BENCHMARK\(|UNION\s+SELECT/i"; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

1. Immediate Action: Disable or uninstall the AHAthat Plugin until a security patch is released by the vendor.
2. Workaround: If the plugin is critical, restrict access to the vulnerable endpoint via .htaccess or server configuration:

   <Files "admin-ajax.php">
       Require ip 192.168.1.0/24
   </Files>
   

3. Long-term: Monitor the WordPress plugin repository for updates. Consider replacing the plugin with an alternative that is actively maintained.
4. Audit: Review administrator accounts and revoke unnecessary privileges. Enable logging of all admin actions.
5. WAF: Deploy a Web Application Firewall with rules to block SQL injection patterns (e.g., ModSecurity with OWASP CRS).

Valters IT
Securing Digital Frontiers