CVE-2025-28972: WP Employee Attendance System SQLi Flaw

CVE-2025-28972 Overview

CVE-2025-28972 is a blind SQL injection vulnerability in the Suhas Surse WP Employee Attendance System plugin for WordPress. The flaw stems from improper neutralization of special elements used in SQL commands [CWE-89]. It affects all plugin versions up to and including 3.5. An authenticated attacker with high privileges can inject crafted SQL statements through vulnerable parameters and infer database contents through blind techniques. The scope is changed because the attacker can reach data beyond the vulnerable component, exposing confidential records stored in the WordPress database.

Critical Impact
Authenticated attackers can extract sensitive employee and WordPress data through blind SQL injection, with potential to disrupt database availability.

Affected Products

WP Employee Attendance System plugin versions up to and including 3.5
WordPress sites running the affected plugin
Suhas Surse wp-employee-attendance-system package

Discovery Timeline

2025-06-17 - CVE-2025-28972 published to NVD
2026-04-23 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-28972

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in the WP Employee Attendance System plugin where user-supplied input is concatenated into SQL queries without proper sanitization or parameterization. An authenticated attacker submits crafted payloads to plugin endpoints that pass the input directly to the WordPress database layer. Because the application does not return query results in error messages or visible output, exploitation relies on blind SQL injection techniques such as boolean-based and time-based inference.

The attack vector is network-based and requires no user interaction. The plugin runs in the WordPress administrative context, so successful injection grants the attacker the same database access as the WordPress site itself. This includes the ability to read arbitrary tables, including wp_users and wp_usermeta, where password hashes and session tokens reside.

Root Cause

The root cause is the failure to use prepared statements or the $wpdb->prepare() API when constructing SQL queries from request parameters. The plugin processes input without applying type casting, allow-lists, or escaping appropriate for SQL contexts. This leaves the query structure modifiable by attacker-controlled data.

Attack Vector

An attacker with valid high-privilege credentials sends HTTP requests containing SQL metacharacters to vulnerable plugin endpoints. The injected payload alters query logic to extract data character by character using conditional responses or response timing. Because the scope is changed, the attacker can access resources outside the vulnerable component, including other WordPress data stores accessible to the database user.

No verified public exploit code is available. See the Patchstack WordPress Vulnerability Report for additional technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-28972

Indicators of Compromise

Unusual SQL metacharacters such as ', --, UNION, SLEEP(, or BENCHMARK( in HTTP request parameters targeting wp-admin endpoints associated with the plugin
Repeated authenticated requests to WP Employee Attendance System endpoints with incrementally varying parameter values consistent with blind extraction
Database queries with abnormally long execution times originating from the plugin's PHP files

Detection Strategies

Inspect web server access logs for query strings containing SQL syntax patterns directed at /wp-admin/admin.php?page= and AJAX handlers exposed by wp-employee-attendance-system
Enable WordPress debug logging and review wpdb query logs for malformed or unexpected SQL statements
Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule set with signatures for blind SQL injection patterns and boolean-based payloads

Monitoring Recommendations

Forward WordPress and web server logs to a centralized log platform and correlate authenticated session activity with database query anomalies
Alert on time-based delays in PHP request processing that align with SLEEP() injection patterns
Monitor administrative account activity for off-hours access or sudden spikes in plugin page requests

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-28972

Immediate Actions Required

Deactivate the WP Employee Attendance System plugin until a patched version is released by the vendor
Restrict administrative access using IP allow-lists and enforce multi-factor authentication for all high-privilege WordPress accounts
Rotate WordPress administrator credentials and database user passwords if exploitation is suspected

Patch Information

At the time of publication, no fixed version is identified beyond 3.5. Monitor the Patchstack advisory and the plugin repository for an official update.

Workarounds

Remove or disable the plugin and migrate attendance tracking to a maintained alternative
Deploy WAF virtual patching rules that block SQL syntax in parameters submitted to plugin endpoints
Apply least-privilege principles to the WordPress database account, removing rights such as FILE, CREATE, and DROP where not strictly required

bash

# Configuration example: disable the vulnerable plugin via WP-CLI
wp plugin deactivate wp-employee-attendance-system
wp plugin delete wp-employee-attendance-system