Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.5.2
- Affected Plugin
- Perfect Survey
- Affected Version
< 1.5.2- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-89 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')
- CVE
CVE-2021-24762
At a glance
CVE-2021-24762 is a critical-severity Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in the Perfect Survey WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 1.5.2. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.5.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed October 2021, reported by apple502j.
Vulnerability Overview
The Perfect Survey WordPress plugin before 1.5.2 does not validate and escape the question_id GET parameter before using it in a SQL statement in the get_question AJAX action, allowing unauthenticated users to perform 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 Perfect Survey < 1.5.2 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. For Perfect Survey the fix is 1.5.2: builds < 1.5.2 are affected, anything from 1.5.2 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.5.2, or a newer patched version
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. None of that substitutes for the fix: Perfect Survey 1.5.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
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