CVE-2025-46455: WP HRM LITE SQL Injection Vulnerability

CVE-2025-46455 Overview

CVE-2025-46455 is a critical SQL Injection vulnerability affecting the WP HRM LITE WordPress plugin developed by IndigoThemes. The vulnerability exists due to improper neutralization of special elements used in SQL commands (CWE-89), allowing unauthenticated attackers to inject malicious SQL queries into the application's database operations. This flaw impacts WP HRM LITE versions up to and including 1.1.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this SQL Injection vulnerability to extract sensitive data from the WordPress database, potentially compromising employee records, HR data, user credentials, and other confidential information stored by the plugin.

Affected Products

• WP HRM LITE plugin for WordPress (versions from n/a through 1.1)
• WordPress installations using the affected WP HRM LITE plugin
• IndigoThemes WP HRM LITE Human Resource Management System

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-05-23 - CVE-2025-46455 published to NVD
• 2025-05-23 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-46455

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL Injection vulnerability in WP HRM LITE enables attackers to manipulate database queries through specially crafted input. The attack can be executed over the network without requiring any authentication or user interaction, significantly increasing its exploitability. Due to the changed scope characteristic, successful exploitation can impact resources beyond the vulnerable component, potentially allowing attackers to access other data within the WordPress database.

The vulnerability allows for high-impact data confidentiality breaches, enabling attackers to extract sensitive HR information such as employee personal data, salary information, and other confidential records managed by the plugin. Additionally, the vulnerability can cause limited availability impact through resource consumption or data manipulation.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-46455 is the failure to properly sanitize and validate user-supplied input before incorporating it into SQL queries. The WP HRM LITE plugin does not adequately neutralize special characters and SQL syntax elements in user input, allowing attackers to break out of the intended query structure and inject arbitrary SQL commands. This represents a fundamental input validation failure that bypasses the WordPress database abstraction layer's prepared statement protections.

Attack Vector

The vulnerability is exploitable remotely over the network. Attackers can craft malicious HTTP requests containing SQL injection payloads targeting vulnerable parameters within the WP HRM LITE plugin. Since no authentication is required (PR:N) and no user interaction is necessary (UI:N), automated exploitation tools can easily target vulnerable installations at scale.

Attack scenarios include:

• Data Exfiltration: Using UNION-based or blind SQL injection techniques to extract database contents including user credentials and sensitive HR data
• Authentication Bypass: Manipulating authentication queries to gain unauthorized access to the HR management system
• Privilege Escalation: Extracting WordPress administrator credentials to gain full site control

The vulnerability does not require specific code examples to understand—it follows classic SQL injection patterns where unsanitized input is concatenated directly into SQL query strings. For detailed technical analysis, refer to the Patchstack Vulnerability Report.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-46455

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual database queries in WordPress/MySQL logs containing SQL syntax anomalies such as UNION SELECT, OR 1=1, or encoded variants
• HTTP requests to WP HRM LITE plugin endpoints containing suspicious characters like single quotes, double dashes, or SQL keywords
• Unexpected database access patterns or bulk data retrieval from HR-related tables
• Error messages in application logs indicating SQL syntax errors from malformed injection attempts

Detection Strategies

• Deploy Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules specifically targeting SQL injection patterns in requests to /wp-content/plugins/wp-hrm-lite/ paths
• Enable WordPress debug logging and monitor for database error messages indicative of SQL injection attempts
• Implement database activity monitoring to detect unusual query patterns or unauthorized data access
• Use SentinelOne Singularity platform for real-time detection of exploitation attempts and anomalous process behavior

Monitoring Recommendations

• Monitor HTTP request logs for common SQL injection indicators including encoded payloads and time-based blind injection attempts
• Set up alerts for large data transfers from the WordPress database that may indicate successful data exfiltration
• Track plugin update status and alert when vulnerable versions of WP HRM LITE are detected in your environment
• Implement file integrity monitoring on WordPress plugin directories to detect unauthorized modifications

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-46455

Immediate Actions Required

• Immediately update WP HRM LITE to the latest patched version if available from IndigoThemes
• If no patch is available, consider deactivating and removing the WP HRM LITE plugin until a security update is released
• Deploy virtual patching through a Web Application Firewall to block SQL injection attempts targeting the vulnerable plugin
• Audit database access logs for any signs of prior exploitation and rotate database credentials if compromise is suspected

Patch Information

At the time of disclosure, users should check the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for the latest remediation guidance and patch availability from IndigoThemes. Monitor the WordPress plugin repository for security updates to WP HRM LITE versions beyond 1.1.

Workarounds

• Implement strict input validation at the web server level using ModSecurity or similar WAF solutions with SQL injection rule sets
• Restrict access to the WordPress admin panel and plugin-related URLs using IP allowlisting where possible
• Apply the principle of least privilege to the WordPress database user account to limit potential impact
• Consider using a WordPress security plugin that provides virtual patching capabilities until an official fix is released

# ModSecurity rule example to help mitigate SQL injection attempts
# Add to your web server configuration or .htaccess
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@contains /wp-content/plugins/wp-hrm-lite/" \
    "id:100001,phase:2,deny,status:403,\
    chain"
SecRule ARGS "@rx (?i)(union.*select|select.*from|insert.*into|delete.*from|drop\s+table)" \
    "t:none,t:urlDecodeUni,t:htmlEntityDecode,\
    msg:'Potential SQL Injection attempt blocked on WP HRM LITE'"