Vulnerability Report

CVE-2022-21661

Title: SQL injection in WordPress via WP_Query

SQLi

Proof Of Concept

PoC Available for CVE-2022-21661

CWE Category CWE-89
Published Date Jan 06, 2022
Modified Date Aug 19, 2025
Exploit Status Available
Score 8.0 CVSS v3.1
Exploit Probability (EPSS)
90.36%

Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2022-21661: WordPress is a free and open-source content management system written in PHP and paired with a MariaDB database. Due to improper sanitization in WP_Query, there can be cases where SQL injection is possible through plugins or themes that use it in a certain way. This has been patched in WordPress version 5.8.3. Older affected versions are also fixed via security release, that go back till 3.7.37. We strongly recommend that you keep auto-updates enabled. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Impacted Vendors

W
wordpress 1

Reference Links

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/165540/WordPress-Core-5.8.2-SQL-Injection.html https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/commit/17efac8c8ec64555eff5cf51a3eff81e06317214 https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/security/advisories/GHSA-6676-cqfm-gw84 https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/01/msg00019.html https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/CV4UNEC63UU5GEU47IIR4RMTZAHNEOJG/ https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/DM6XPH3JN6V4NF4WBOJTOXZIVE6VKKE3/ https://wordpress.org/news/2022/01/wordpress-5-8-3-security-release/ https://www.debian.org/security/2022/dsa-5039 https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/50663 https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-22-020/ http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/165540/WordPress-Core-5.8.2-SQL-Injection.html https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/commit/17efac8c8ec64555eff5cf51a3eff81e06317214 https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/security/advisories/GHSA-6676-cqfm-gw84 https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/01/msg00019.html https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/CV4UNEC63UU5GEU47IIR4RMTZAHNEOJG/ https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/DM6XPH3JN6V4NF4WBOJTOXZIVE6VKKE3/ https://wordpress.org/news/2022/01/wordpress-5-8-3-security-release/ https://www.debian.org/security/2022/dsa-5039 https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/50663 https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/understanding-the-wordpress-sql-injection-vulnerability-cve-2022-21661 https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-22-020/
CVSS v3.1
Source Entity [email protected]
Severity HIGH
8.0
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
HIGH
Privileges
N/A
Interaction
NONE
Confidentiality
N/A
Integrity
N/A
Availability
N/A
Scope
CHANGED
RAW VECTOR CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS v3.1
Source Entity [email protected]
Severity HIGH
7.5
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
N/A
Interaction
NONE
Confidentiality
N/A
Integrity
N/A
Availability
N/A
Scope
UNCHANGED
RAW VECTOR CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
CVSS v2.0
Source Entity [email protected]
Severity MEDIUM
5.0
Access Vector
N/A
Authentication
N/A
RAW VECTOR AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Associated Attack Patterns (CAPEC)

Total: Patterns

CVE-2022-21661 Exploits & PoCs (Proof Of Concept)

Exploit-DB https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/50663
View Code
MODIFIED

Vulnerability data or affected products updated.

PUBLISHED

Vulnerability first announced in NVD.

Attack Vector Matrix

Access Vector NETWORK
Complexity HIGH
Privileges N/A
Interaction NONE
CVSS Vector String CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected Stack

No specific products linked.