CVE-2024-55976: Critical Site Intel SQL Injection Flaw

CVE-2024-55976 Overview

CVE-2024-55976 is an SQL Injection vulnerability affecting the Critical Site Intel WordPress plugin (critical-site-intel-stats) developed by mikeleembruggen. This vulnerability allows attackers to inject malicious SQL commands through improperly sanitized user input, potentially enabling unauthorized access to database contents, data manipulation, or complete database compromise.

Critical Impact

This SQL Injection vulnerability could allow attackers to extract sensitive data from the WordPress database, modify or delete content, or potentially escalate to full server compromise depending on database configuration and privileges.

Affected Products

• Critical Site Intel WordPress Plugin version 1.0 and earlier
• WordPress installations using the critical-site-intel-stats plugin

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-12-16 - CVE-2024-55976 published to NVD
• 2026-04-01 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-55976

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-89 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command). The Critical Site Intel plugin fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input before incorporating it into SQL queries executed against the WordPress database.

SQL Injection vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins are particularly dangerous because they can expose the entire WordPress database, which typically contains user credentials, post content, site configuration, and potentially customer data for e-commerce installations. The EPSS score of 9.044% (92.6th percentile) indicates this vulnerability has elevated exploitation probability compared to typical vulnerabilities.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability lies in the plugin's failure to implement proper input validation and parameterized queries. User-controlled input is directly concatenated into SQL statements without appropriate escaping or the use of prepared statements with bound parameters.

WordPress provides secure database abstraction methods through the $wpdb class, including $wpdb->prepare() for creating parameterized queries. The vulnerable plugin does not utilize these security mechanisms, allowing attackers to break out of the intended query structure.

Attack Vector

An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by submitting specially crafted input containing SQL metacharacters and commands. The malicious input is then incorporated into a database query, allowing the attacker to:

1. Extract sensitive data from database tables (authentication credentials, user information, site content)
2. Modify or delete database records
3. Bypass authentication mechanisms
4. Potentially execute administrative functions within the database

The vulnerability requires network access to the WordPress installation but may not require authentication depending on which plugin functions are exposed to unauthenticated users.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-55976

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual database query patterns in server logs containing SQL keywords (UNION, SELECT, DROP, INSERT, UPDATE) in unexpected parameters
• Web application firewall (WAF) alerts for SQL injection attempts targeting the Critical Site Intel plugin endpoints
• Unexpected modifications to database tables or user accounts
• Error messages in logs revealing database structure or query failures

Detection Strategies

• Monitor web server access logs for requests containing SQL injection payloads targeting plugin endpoints
• Deploy web application firewall rules specifically detecting SQL injection patterns in WordPress plugin parameters
• Implement database query logging to identify anomalous or unauthorized query patterns
• Use intrusion detection systems with signatures for common SQL injection attack patterns

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable WordPress debug logging to capture database errors that may indicate exploitation attempts
• Configure database activity monitoring to alert on suspicious query patterns or privilege escalation
• Review plugin-specific log files for unusual access patterns or error conditions
• Implement real-time alerting for WAF rule triggers related to SQL injection

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-55976

Immediate Actions Required

• Disable or remove the Critical Site Intel plugin (critical-site-intel-stats) from all WordPress installations immediately
• Review database logs for signs of past exploitation and potential data exfiltration
• Change all WordPress user passwords, especially administrator accounts, as credentials may have been compromised
• Conduct a security audit of database integrity and consider restoring from a known-clean backup if compromise is suspected

Patch Information

At the time of publication, no official patch has been released for this vulnerability. The vulnerability affects Critical Site Intel version 1.0 and all prior versions. Organizations should monitor the Patchstack WordPress Vulnerability Analysis for updates and patch availability.

Workarounds

• Remove the Critical Site Intel plugin entirely until a security patch is available
• Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to block SQL injection attempts targeting the plugin
• Restrict access to WordPress admin and plugin endpoints using IP allowlisting where feasible
• Consider using a WordPress security plugin to add additional input validation and monitoring capabilities
• Ensure database user accounts used by WordPress have minimal necessary privileges to limit exploitation impact

# WordPress CLI command to deactivate the vulnerable plugin
wp plugin deactivate critical-site-intel-stats --path=/var/www/html/wordpress

# Verify plugin is deactivated
wp plugin list --status=inactive --path=/var/www/html/wordpress | grep critical-site-intel