CVE-2026-54185

Cornerstone < 7.8.8 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) SQL Injection

2026-06-16 00:00
Nguyen Ba Khanh

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 7.8.8
Affected Plugin
Cornerstone
Affected Version
< 7.8.8
CVSS
6.5Medium
Weakness type
CWE-89 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')
CVE
CVE-2026-54185
View all Cornerstone vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2026-54185 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in the Cornerstone WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 7.8.8. It carries a CVSS score of 6.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Subscriber level or above. The issue is fixed in version 7.8.8; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2026, reported by Nguyen Ba Khanh.

Vulnerability Overview

The Cornerstone plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to SQL Injection in versions up to 7.8.8 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 that can be used to extract sensitive information from the database.

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 confidentiality.

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

Reaching this weakness in Cornerstone < 7.8.8 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 Cornerstone the fix is 7.8.8: builds < 7.8.8 are affected, anything from 7.8.8 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 7.8.8, 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: Cornerstone 7.8.8 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-54185https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/03ffb77e-fcb2-42ff-9010-d067d746c543https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-54185

Related records

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