The School Management <= 5.4 - Authenticated (Custom+) SQL Injection via 'order[0][dir]' Parameter
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 5.5
- Affected Plugin
- The School Management – Education & Learning ERP
- Affected Version
<= 5.4- CVSS
- 6.5Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-89 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')
- CVE
CVE-2026-9767
At a glance
CVE-2026-9767 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in the The School Management WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 5.4. It carries a CVSS score of 6.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Custom level or above. The issue is fixed in version 5.5; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2026, reported by j4ck13ch4n.
Vulnerability Overview
The The School Management – Education & Learning ERP plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to generic SQL Injection via 'order[0][dir]' Parameter in all versions up to, and including, 5.4 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 custom-level access and above, to append additional SQL queries into already existing queries that can be used to extract sensitive information from the database. This vulnerability is replicated across seven or more AJAX handlers including wlsm-fetch-staff-classes, wlsm-fetch-notices, wlsm-fetch-subjects, wlsm-fetch-inquiries, wlsm-fetch-staff-employee, and wlsm-fetch-payments, and the missing nonce verification on several of these handlers also enables CSRF-chained exploitation.
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')
The School Management <= 5.4 carries this weakness at order[0][dir], and reaching it takes an account at Custom 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 The School Management the fix is 5.5: builds <= 5.4 are affected, anything from 5.5 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 5.5, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
An attacker needs Custom 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: The School Management 5.5 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
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