CVE-2025-10743 Overview
CVE-2025-10743 is a SQL Injection vulnerability in the Outdoor plugin for WordPress affecting all versions up to and including 1.3.2. The flaw exists in the plugin's edit action, where user-supplied input is not properly escaped and the underlying SQL query lacks adequate preparation. Unauthenticated attackers can append additional SQL statements to existing queries and extract sensitive data from the WordPress database. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-89 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command).
Critical Impact
Unauthenticated remote attackers can extract sensitive information from the WordPress database, including user credentials, session tokens, and configuration secrets, without any user interaction.
Affected Products
- WordPress Outdoor plugin versions 1.0 through 1.3.2
- WordPress installations with the Outdoor plugin enabled
- All sites exposing the vulnerable edit action endpoint
Discovery Timeline
- 2025-10-15 - CVE-2025-10743 published to NVD
- 2026-04-15 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-10743
Vulnerability Analysis
The Outdoor plugin processes an edit action handler defined in actions.php that accepts user-supplied parameters and concatenates them directly into a SQL query. The plugin fails to apply WordPress's $wpdb->prepare() method or proper escaping functions such as esc_sql() before executing the query against the database.
Because the vulnerable endpoint does not enforce authentication or capability checks, any remote attacker can reach the action handler. By crafting input that breaks out of the intended query context, the attacker injects additional SQL clauses, including UNION SELECT statements that read arbitrary tables in the WordPress schema. This enables extraction of administrator password hashes from wp_users, secret keys, and any custom data stored by other plugins.
Root Cause
The root cause is insufficient input sanitization combined with the use of dynamic SQL string concatenation. The vulnerable code path in actions.php builds the SQL query by interpolating request parameters directly rather than binding them as parameterized values. See the WordPress Plugin Code Reference for the affected line.
Attack Vector
Exploitation requires only network access to the WordPress site. The attacker sends a crafted HTTP request to the plugin's action endpoint with malicious SQL payloads embedded in the targeted parameter. No authentication, privileges, or user interaction are required. The attack impacts confidentiality by exposing database contents but does not directly modify data or affect availability based on the CVSS vector.
Technical details are described in the Wordfence Vulnerability Report.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-10743
Indicators of Compromise
- HTTP requests to the Outdoor plugin's action endpoint containing SQL metacharacters such as ', UNION, SELECT, --, or /*
- Unusual outbound database query patterns referencing wp_users, wp_usermeta, or wp_options from the plugin context
- Web server access logs showing repeated requests to the edit action with varying parameter values consistent with SQL injection enumeration
- Presence of the Outdoor plugin at version 1.3.2 or earlier in wp-content/plugins/outdoor/
Detection Strategies
- Inspect web server and Web Application Firewall (WAF) logs for SQL injection signatures targeting WordPress plugin endpoints
- Enable WordPress query logging or database audit logging to capture anomalous SELECT queries originating from the plugin
- Deploy WAF rules that detect SQL keywords and tautologies in query string parameters submitted to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php and plugin action handlers
- Monitor for time-based blind SQL injection patterns, including requests that trigger SLEEP() or BENCHMARK() delays
Monitoring Recommendations
- Forward WordPress, Apache, and Nginx logs to a centralized SIEM for correlation and historical analysis
- Alert on HTTP 500 responses from plugin endpoints, which often indicate failed injection attempts
- Track requests from single source IPs that enumerate database structure through repeated parameter mutations
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-10743
Immediate Actions Required
- Deactivate and remove the Outdoor plugin until a patched version is confirmed available
- Audit the WordPress database for unauthorized administrator accounts or modified user records
- Rotate all WordPress administrator passwords and regenerate authentication keys in wp-config.php
- Review web server access logs for evidence of prior exploitation attempts against the plugin's edit action
Patch Information
At the time of publication, no fixed version has been listed in the available references. Monitor the Outdoor plugin page and the Wordfence Vulnerability Report for an updated release beyond version 1.3.2. Apply the patch immediately once it becomes available.
Workarounds
- Block access to the vulnerable plugin endpoint at the WAF or reverse proxy layer until a patch is applied
- Restrict access to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php and plugin action URLs to authenticated administrators using IP allowlists
- Apply virtual patching rules in the WAF that reject requests containing SQL metacharacters in the affected parameter
- Enforce least-privilege database credentials so the WordPress database user cannot read tables outside the WordPress schema
# Example WAF rule (ModSecurity) to block SQL injection patterns on plugin action endpoint
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@contains /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" \
"chain,deny,status:403,id:1010743,msg:'CVE-2025-10743 Outdoor plugin SQLi attempt'"
SecRule ARGS "@rx (?i)(union(.*?)select|sleep\(|benchmark\(|--|/\*)" "t:none"
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