CVE-2025-14719: Relevanssi WordPress Plugin SQLi Flaw

CVE-2025-14719 Overview

CVE-2025-14719 is a SQL Injection vulnerability affecting the Relevanssi WordPress plugin (versions before 4.26.0) and Relevanssi Premium WordPress plugin (versions before 2.29.0). The vulnerability arises from insufficient sanitization and escaping of a parameter before it is used in a SQL statement, allowing users with contributor-level privileges or higher to perform SQL injection attacks against the WordPress database.

Critical Impact

Authenticated users with contributor or higher role can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability to extract sensitive data from the WordPress database, potentially compromising user credentials, configuration data, and other confidential information stored in the database.

Affected Products

• Relevanssi WordPress plugin versions before 4.26.0
• Relevanssi Premium WordPress plugin versions before 2.29.0

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-01-07 - CVE CVE-2025-14719 published to NVD
• 2026-01-08 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-14719

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL Injection vulnerability exists due to improper input validation in the Relevanssi WordPress plugin. The plugin fails to properly sanitize and escape user-supplied input before incorporating it into SQL queries executed against the WordPress database. This allows attackers with authenticated access at the contributor level or above to inject malicious SQL code that can manipulate database queries.

The attack requires network access and authentication with at least contributor privileges, but once those conditions are met, exploitation is straightforward with no user interaction required. The primary risk is to data confidentiality, as attackers can extract sensitive information from the database through crafted SQL injection payloads.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is the failure to implement proper input sanitization and parameterized queries when handling user-supplied data. The plugin directly incorporates user input into SQL statements without adequate escaping, creating a classic SQL injection attack surface. WordPress provides built-in functions like $wpdb->prepare() specifically to prevent this class of vulnerability, but the affected code paths do not properly utilize these security mechanisms.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based, requiring an authenticated session with at least contributor-level privileges on the target WordPress installation. An attacker can craft malicious requests containing SQL injection payloads that, when processed by the vulnerable plugin code, modify the intended SQL query structure. This enables unauthorized database operations, primarily data extraction.

The vulnerability can be exploited by injecting SQL syntax into the vulnerable parameter, allowing attackers to:

• Extract sensitive data from WordPress database tables
• Enumerate database schema and table structures
• Potentially access user credentials and other confidential information

Technical details regarding the specific vulnerable parameter and exploitation methodology can be found in the WPScan Vulnerability Report.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-14719

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual or malformed requests to WordPress endpoints involving Relevanssi plugin functionality
• Database query logs showing unexpected SQL syntax or UNION-based injection patterns
• Error logs indicating SQL syntax errors from the Relevanssi plugin
• Abnormal data access patterns from contributor-level user accounts

Detection Strategies

• Monitor web server access logs for requests containing common SQL injection patterns targeting Relevanssi endpoints
• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block SQL injection attempts
• Enable WordPress database query logging and monitor for anomalous query structures
• Review user activity logs for contributor accounts exhibiting unusual behavior

Monitoring Recommendations

• Deploy real-time log monitoring for WordPress installations running affected Relevanssi versions
• Configure alerting on database errors originating from the Relevanssi plugin
• Implement endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions to monitor WordPress server activity
• Regularly audit contributor and higher-level user accounts for suspicious activity

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-14719

Immediate Actions Required

• Update Relevanssi WordPress plugin to version 4.26.0 or later immediately
• Update Relevanssi Premium WordPress plugin to version 2.29.0 or later immediately
• Review database access logs for signs of prior exploitation attempts
• Audit contributor-level and higher user accounts for any unauthorized access

Patch Information

The vendor has addressed this vulnerability in Relevanssi version 4.26.0 and Relevanssi Premium version 2.29.0. Organizations should update to these patched versions immediately through the WordPress plugin update mechanism or by downloading the latest version directly from the official plugin repository.

For additional vulnerability details, refer to the WPScan Vulnerability Report.

Workarounds

• Temporarily disable the Relevanssi plugin until the update can be applied
• Restrict contributor-level access to trusted users only until patching is complete
• Implement WAF rules to filter SQL injection patterns in requests to the WordPress installation
• Consider temporarily reducing user privileges for non-essential contributor accounts

# WordPress plugin update via WP-CLI
wp plugin update relevanssi --version=4.26.0

# Verify current plugin version
wp plugin get relevanssi --field=version

# For Relevanssi Premium (if using)
wp plugin update relevanssi-premium --version=2.29.0