Strategic Overview
- Status
- Unpatched
- Affected Plugin
- Master Elements
- Affected Version
<= 8.0- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-89 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')
- CVE
CVE-2022-0693
At a glance
CVE-2022-0693 is a critical-severity Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in the Master Elements WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 8.0. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed April 2022, reported by cydave.
Vulnerability Overview
The Master Elements WordPress plugin through 8.0 does not validate and escape the meta_ids parameter of its remove_post_meta_condition AJAX action (available to both unauthenticated and authenticated users) before using it in a SQL statement, leading to an unauthenticated SQL Injection
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 privileges on the target site, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-89: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')
Reaching this weakness in Master Elements <= 8.0 takes no account at all. 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. No fixed build of this plugin is recorded for Master Elements yet, so installs running <= 8.0 stay exposed until the vendor ships one.
Remediation
No known patch available. Please review the vulnerability's details in depth and employ mitigations based on your organization's risk tolerance. It may be best to uninstall the affected software and find a replacement.
How does WordSec protect against this?
Requests carrying this pattern arrive without a session, so nothing upstream of the firewall gets a chance to reject them: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. No patched version is recorded yet, which is the case where a filtering layer matters most, because there is nothing to update to.
- Firewall
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C