CVE-2025-31056: WhatsCart WooCommerce SQLi Vulnerability

CVE-2025-31056 Overview

CVE-2025-31056 is a critical SQL Injection vulnerability discovered in the WhatsCart - Whatsapp Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Notifications, Chat Box, OTP for WooCommerce plugin for WordPress. The vulnerability stems from improper neutralization of special elements used in SQL commands, allowing unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary SQL queries against the WordPress database. This flaw affects all versions of the plugin from initial release through version 1.1.0.

Critical Impact

This SQL Injection vulnerability enables unauthenticated remote attackers to extract sensitive data from the WordPress database, potentially compromising customer information, order details, and site credentials.

Affected Products

• WhatsCart - Whatsapp Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Notifications, Chat Box, OTP for WooCommerce versions through 1.1.0
• WordPress sites running the vulnerable whatscart-for-woocommerce plugin
• WooCommerce installations with the WhatsCart plugin enabled

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-05-23 - CVE-2025-31056 published to NVD
• 2025-05-23 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-31056

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL Injection vulnerability (CWE-89) exists in the WhatsCart plugin for WooCommerce, a WordPress plugin designed to help store owners recover abandoned carts and send WhatsApp notifications. The vulnerability allows attackers to manipulate SQL queries executed by the plugin due to insufficient input sanitization.

The attack can be performed over the network without requiring any authentication or user interaction, making it particularly dangerous for exposed WordPress installations. While the primary impact is unauthorized access to confidential database information, the vulnerability can also cause limited disruption to database availability.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is improper input validation and lack of parameterized queries in the plugin's database operations. User-supplied input is directly concatenated into SQL statements without proper escaping or the use of prepared statements. WordPress provides the $wpdb->prepare() function specifically to prevent SQL injection attacks, but this security measure was not properly implemented in the vulnerable code paths.

Attack Vector

The vulnerability is exploitable via network-based attacks against WordPress sites running the vulnerable plugin. An attacker can craft malicious HTTP requests containing SQL injection payloads targeting the vulnerable plugin endpoints.

The attack scenario involves sending specially crafted input that breaks out of the intended SQL query context, allowing the attacker to append their own SQL commands. Due to the lack of authentication requirements, any remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability by identifying WordPress sites running the WhatsCart plugin and targeting the vulnerable functionality.

For detailed technical information about the vulnerability mechanism and affected code paths, refer to the Patchstack WordPress Vulnerability Report.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-31056

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual or malformed HTTP requests targeting WhatsCart plugin endpoints containing SQL syntax characters such as single quotes, UNION statements, or comment sequences
• Database query logs showing unexpected queries or error messages related to SQL syntax
• Abnormal database access patterns or data exfiltration attempts
• Web server logs containing encoded SQL injection payloads in request parameters

Detection Strategies

• Monitor web application firewall (WAF) logs for SQL injection attack patterns targeting WordPress plugin URLs
• Implement database activity monitoring to detect unauthorized SELECT statements or data extraction attempts
• Review WordPress error logs for SQL-related errors that may indicate exploitation attempts
• Deploy intrusion detection rules to identify common SQL injection payloads in HTTP traffic

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose logging for WordPress database queries during the vulnerability assessment period
• Configure alerts for database queries containing suspicious keywords like UNION, SELECT, INTO OUTFILE, or LOAD_FILE
• Monitor for unusual spikes in database read operations that could indicate bulk data extraction
• Implement real-time monitoring of web traffic to identify automated SQL injection scanning tools

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-31056

Immediate Actions Required

• Update the WhatsCart plugin to a patched version as soon as one becomes available from Techspawn
• If no patch is available, immediately disable and remove the WhatsCart plugin from your WordPress installation
• Audit your WordPress database for signs of unauthorized access or data exfiltration
• Review and rotate database credentials and WordPress admin passwords as a precautionary measure
• Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with SQL injection protection rules

Patch Information

At the time of publication, administrators should check the Patchstack WordPress Vulnerability Report for the latest patch status and remediation guidance. Users are advised to update to a version newer than 1.1.0 once a security fix is released by Techspawn.

Workarounds

• Temporarily deactivate and delete the WhatsCart plugin until a security patch is available
• Deploy WAF rules to block requests containing SQL injection patterns targeting the plugin's endpoints
• Restrict access to the WordPress admin area and plugin functionality using IP-based access controls
• Consider using database user accounts with limited privileges to reduce the impact of potential exploitation

# Deactivate and remove the vulnerable plugin via WP-CLI
wp plugin deactivate whatscart-for-woocommerce --path=/var/www/html/wordpress
wp plugin delete whatscart-for-woocommerce --path=/var/www/html/wordpress

# Verify the plugin has been removed
wp plugin list --path=/var/www/html/wordpress | grep whatscart