CVE-2021-25037

All in One SEO 4.1.3.1 - 4.1.5.2 - Authenticated SQL Injection

2021-12-14 00:00
Marc-Alexandre Montpas

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 4.1.5.3
Affected Plugin
All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights)
Affected Version
4.1.3.1 – 4.1.5.2
CVSS
9.6Critical
Weakness type
CWE-89 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')
CVE
CVE-2021-25037
View all All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-25037 is a critical-severity Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in the All in One SEO WordPress plugin, affecting versions 4.1.3.1 – 4.1.5.2. It carries a CVSS score of 9.6 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account. The issue is fixed in version 4.1.5.3; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2021, reported by Marc-Alexandre Montpas.

Vulnerability Overview

The All in One SEO WordPress plugin before 4.1.5.3 is affected by an authenticated SQL injection issue, which was discovered during an internal audit by the Jetpack Scan team, and could grant attackers access to privileged information from the affected site’s database (e.g., usernames and hashed passwords).

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on integrity, availability.

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

Reaching this weakness in All in One SEO 4.1.3.1 – 4.1.5.2 takes any authenticated account. 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 All in One SEO the fix is 4.1.5.3: builds 4.1.3.1 – 4.1.5.2 are affected, anything from 4.1.5.3 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 4.1.5.3, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to All in One SEO: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: All in One SEO 4.1.5.3 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-25037https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/b5490dd9-20d5-4cd6-bc09-5da94d3e702fhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-25037

Related records

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