CVE-2025-6495: Bricks WordPress Theme SQLi Vulnerability

CVE-2025-6495 Overview

The Bricks theme for WordPress contains a blind SQL Injection vulnerability in all versions up to and including 1.12.4. The vulnerability exists due to insufficient escaping on the user-supplied p parameter and a lack of sufficient preparation on the existing SQL query. This security flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to append additional SQL queries into already existing queries, enabling extraction of sensitive information from the database.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this blind SQL injection to extract sensitive data from the WordPress database, potentially including user credentials, personal information, and other confidential data stored in the database.

Affected Products

• Bricks Theme for WordPress versions up to and including 1.12.4

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-07-29 - CVE CVE-2025-6495 published to NVD
• 2025-07-29 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-6495

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as CWE-89 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command), commonly known as SQL Injection. The vulnerability specifically manifests as a blind SQL injection, meaning the attacker cannot directly see the query results but can infer information based on the application's behavior or timing differences.

The Bricks theme fails to properly sanitize and escape user input passed through the p parameter before incorporating it into SQL queries. Without proper parameterization or prepared statements, malicious SQL syntax injected by an attacker becomes part of the executed query, allowing unauthorized database operations.

The network-accessible nature of this vulnerability combined with no authentication requirements significantly increases the attack surface. Successful exploitation results in confidentiality impact as sensitive database contents can be extracted.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is insufficient input validation and the lack of prepared statements in the SQL query construction. When user-supplied data from the p parameter is incorporated directly into SQL queries without proper escaping or parameterization, it creates an injection point that attackers can exploit. WordPress provides functions like $wpdb->prepare() specifically to prevent such issues, but these protections were not adequately implemented in the affected code paths.

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 in the p parameter. Since this is a blind SQL injection, attackers typically use time-based or boolean-based techniques to extract data:

• Time-based blind injection: The attacker injects SQL that causes conditional delays, allowing inference of data based on response timing
• Boolean-based blind injection: The attacker injects SQL that changes the application's response based on true/false conditions, systematically extracting data character by character

Automated tools like SQLMap can efficiently exploit blind SQL injection vulnerabilities to dump entire database contents. For technical details on this vulnerability, refer to the Wordfence Vulnerability Report.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-6495

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual or malformed values in the p parameter containing SQL syntax such as UNION, SELECT, SLEEP(), BENCHMARK(), or single quotes
• Abnormally slow HTTP responses that may indicate time-based SQL injection attempts
• Increased database query execution times or errors in database logs
• Web application firewall (WAF) logs showing blocked SQL injection patterns

Detection Strategies

• Deploy web application firewall rules to detect and block SQL injection patterns in the p parameter
• Monitor web server access logs for requests containing SQL keywords and injection techniques
• Implement database activity monitoring to detect anomalous query patterns or data extraction attempts
• Use intrusion detection systems (IDS) with SQL injection signature rules

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose logging on the WordPress database to capture all executed queries
• Set up alerts for failed or unusual database authentication attempts
• Monitor for bulk data access patterns that could indicate database exfiltration
• Review web server logs regularly for reconnaissance and exploitation attempts targeting the p parameter

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-6495

Immediate Actions Required

• Update the Bricks theme to version 2.0 or later immediately, as the fix is included in this release
• If immediate update is not possible, implement web application firewall rules to block SQL injection attempts on the p parameter
• Review database logs for signs of exploitation and assess potential data exposure
• Consider temporarily disabling the affected functionality until patching is complete

Patch Information

The vulnerability has been addressed in Bricks version 2.0. Site administrators should update to this version or later to remediate the vulnerability. The Bricks 2.0 Changelog contains release details. Updates can be applied through the WordPress admin dashboard or by downloading directly from the Bricks Builder Official Site.

Workarounds

• Deploy a web application firewall (WAF) with SQL injection protection rules targeting the p parameter
• Implement server-level input validation to block requests containing SQL injection patterns
• Use WordPress security plugins that provide SQL injection detection and blocking capabilities
• Restrict database user privileges to limit the impact of potential exploitation, ensuring the WordPress database user has minimal required permissions

# Example WAF rule concept for ModSecurity
# Block SQL injection attempts on the p parameter
SecRule ARGS:p "@detectSQLi" \
    "id:1001,\
    phase:2,\
    deny,\
    status:403,\
    msg:'SQL Injection attempt detected in p parameter',\
    log,\
    auditlog"