CVE-2025-22785: Course Booking System SQLi Vulnerability

CVE-2025-22785 Overview

CVE-2025-22785 is a critical SQL Injection vulnerability affecting the ComMotion Course Booking System WordPress plugin through version 6.0.5. This vulnerability stems from improper neutralization of special elements used in SQL commands, allowing unauthenticated attackers to inject malicious SQL queries through the network without requiring user interaction.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this SQL Injection vulnerability to extract sensitive data from the WordPress database, potentially compromising user credentials, personal information, and site configuration data.

Affected Products

• ComMotion Course Booking System WordPress Plugin versions up to and including 6.0.5
• WordPress installations utilizing the vulnerable Course Booking System plugin

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-01-15 - CVE-2025-22785 published to NVD
• 2025-01-15 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-22785

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL Injection vulnerability (CWE-89) exists in the ComMotion Course Booking System plugin for WordPress. The flaw allows attackers to manipulate database queries by injecting malicious SQL syntax through user-controllable input fields. Since the vulnerability is exploitable over the network without authentication, it presents a significant risk to WordPress sites running the affected plugin versions.

The vulnerability enables attackers to potentially access confidential data stored in the WordPress database. While the primary impact is data exfiltration (confidentiality breach), the vulnerability may also cause limited availability impacts through malicious queries that affect database performance.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-22785 is the failure to properly sanitize, validate, or parameterize user-supplied input before incorporating it into SQL queries. The Course Booking System plugin does not adequately neutralize special SQL characters and syntax elements, allowing malicious input to be interpreted as executable SQL commands rather than data.

WordPress plugins should use prepared statements with parameterized queries (utilizing $wpdb->prepare()) to prevent SQL injection attacks. The absence of these secure coding practices in the affected plugin versions enables this vulnerability.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based, requiring no authentication or user interaction. An attacker can craft malicious HTTP requests containing SQL injection payloads targeting vulnerable input parameters within the Course Booking System plugin. The injected SQL code is then executed by the database server with the privileges of the WordPress database user.

Successful exploitation could allow attackers to:

• Extract sensitive data from the WordPress database including user credentials and personal information
• Enumerate database structure and content
• Potentially modify or delete database records depending on database permissions
• In some configurations, achieve further system compromise through database-specific attack techniques

For detailed technical information about this vulnerability, refer to the Patchstack Vulnerability Report.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-22785

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual or malformed HTTP requests to Course Booking System plugin endpoints containing SQL syntax characters (e.g., single quotes, double dashes, UNION statements)
• Database error messages appearing in web server logs or application responses
• Unexpected database queries or query patterns in database logs
• Evidence of data exfiltration or unauthorized database access in audit logs

Detection Strategies

• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block common SQL injection patterns targeting WordPress plugins
• Monitor HTTP request logs for suspicious payloads containing SQL keywords (SELECT, UNION, INSERT, DROP, etc.) directed at Course Booking System endpoints
• Enable WordPress database query logging to identify anomalous SQL statements
• Deploy intrusion detection systems (IDS) with signatures for SQL injection attack patterns

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed access logging on web servers to capture full request parameters
• Configure database audit logging to track all queries executed by the WordPress database user
• Set up alerts for database errors that may indicate injection attempts
• Monitor for unusual outbound data transfers that could indicate data exfiltration

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-22785

Immediate Actions Required

• Update the Course Booking System plugin to a patched version if available from the vendor
• If no patch is available, consider temporarily deactivating the Course Booking System plugin until a fix is released
• Implement WAF rules to block SQL injection attempts targeting the plugin
• Review database access logs for evidence of prior exploitation
• Conduct a security audit of the WordPress installation and database for signs of compromise

Patch Information

Organizations should check the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for the latest patch status and update information from the plugin vendor. Ensure the Course Booking System plugin is updated beyond version 6.0.5 when a security update becomes available.

Workarounds

• Deploy a Web Application Firewall with SQL injection protection rules as a defensive layer
• Restrict database user privileges to the minimum required for WordPress operation
• If the plugin functionality is not critical, deactivate and remove the Course Booking System plugin until patched
• Implement network-level access controls to limit exposure of the WordPress admin and plugin interfaces
• Consider using WordPress security plugins that provide virtual patching capabilities

# Example WAF rule to block common SQL injection patterns (ModSecurity)
SecRule ARGS "@detectSQLi" \
    "id:1001,\
    phase:2,\
    deny,\
    status:403,\
    msg:'SQL Injection Attack Detected',\
    log,\
    tag:'application-multi',\
    tag:'language-multi',\
    tag:'platform-multi',\
    tag:'attack-sqli'"