CVE-2022-21661
HIGHEPSS 100th pctlDescription
WordPress is a free and open-source content management system written in PHP and paired with a MariaDB database. Due to improper sanitization in WP_Query, there can be cases where SQL injection is possible through plugins or themes that use it in a certain way. This has been patched in WordPress version 5.8.3. Older affected versions are also fixed via security release, that go back till 3.7.37. We strongly recommend that you keep auto-updates enabled. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
CVSS v3 Vector
Exploitability
Impact
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Exploit Intelligence
Very high risk: more likely to be exploited than 100% of all known CVEs.
References
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/165540/WordPress-Core-5.8.2-SQL-Injection.html
- https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/commit/17efac8c8ec64555eff5cf51a3eff81e06317214
- https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/security/advisories/GHSA-6676-cqfm-gw84
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/01/msg00019.html
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/CV4UNEC63UU5GEU47IIR4RMTZAHNEOJG/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/DM6XPH3JN6V4NF4WBOJTOXZIVE6VKKE3/
- https://wordpress.org/news/2022/01/wordpress-5-8-3-security-release/
- https://www.debian.org/security/2022/dsa-5039
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/50663
- https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-22-020/
- https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/understanding-the-wordpress-sql-injection-vulnerability-cve-2022-21661
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Start freeThis product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2025-08-19.