CVE-2025-2074

Advanced Google reCAPTCHA <= 1.29 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Limited SQL Injection via 'sSearch' Parameter

2025-03-27 19:32
Muhamad Visat

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 1.30
Affected Plugin
Advanced Google reCAPTCHA
Affected Version
<= 1.29
CVSS
5.3Medium
Weakness type
CWE-89 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')
CVE
CVE-2025-2074
View all Advanced Google reCAPTCHA vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2025-2074 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in the Advanced Google reCAPTCHA WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.29. It carries a CVSS score of 5.3 (reachable over the network; high confidentiality impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Subscriber level or above. The issue is fixed in version 1.30; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed March 2025, reported by Muhamad Visat.

Vulnerability Overview

The Advanced Google reCAPTCHA plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to generic SQL Injection via the ‘sSearch’ parameter in all versions up to, and including, 1.29 due to insufficient escaping on the user supplied parameter and lack of sufficient preparation on the existing SQL query. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to append additional SQL queries into already existing queries, particularly when the plugin’s settings page hasn’t been visited and its welcome message has not been dismissed. This issue can be used to extract sensitive information from the database.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality.

CWE-89: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')

Advanced Google reCAPTCHA <= 1.29 carries this weakness at sSearch, and reaching it takes an account at Subscriber level or above. SQL injection happens when request data is concatenated into a query instead of being bound as a parameter, letting an attacker change the structure of the statement rather than just its values.

A working injection can read any table the database user can see, which on a WordPress install means user records, password hashes and session or API secrets stored in options. For Advanced Google reCAPTCHA the fix is 1.30: builds <= 1.29 are affected, anything from 1.30 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.30, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

An attacker needs Subscriber access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Advanced Google reCAPTCHA 1.30 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-2074https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/963a9b30-9194-4abc-aa69-eb333cbddef3https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-2074

Related records

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