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Contact Form 7 Database AddonWordPress extension · Ciphercoin

CVE-2021-24144

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-03-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.2.5.6 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Unvalidated input in the Contact Form 7 Database Addon plugin, versions before 1.2.5.6, was prone to a vulnerability that lets remote attackers inject arbitrary formulas into CSV files.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The Contact Form 7 Database Addon plugin before version 1.2.5.6 fails to validate user-submitted input before including it in CSV export files. This allows remote attackers to inject spreadsheet formulas (CSV/formula injection) into exported CSV data. When users open these CSV files in spreadsheet applications like Excel or LibreOffice Calc, the injected formulas can execute arbitrary commands or trigger data exfiltration.

MitigationUpgrade to version 1.2.5.6 or later which includes proper input sanitization for CSV exports. If immediate upgrade is not possible, disable CSV export functionality until the patch can be applied.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Contact Form 7 Database AddonWordPress extension
Affected:< 1.2.5.6

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate the Contact Form 7 Database Addon plugin version
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins > look for 'Ciphercoin Contact Form 7 Database Addon' and check the version number displayed below the plugin name. Alternatively, inspect the plugin main file header comment for 'Version:' tag.
    Affected if The displayed version is below 1.2.5.6 (e.g., 1.2.5.5, 1.2.4, etc.)
  2. Confirm the plugin is active and has data
    Check if the plugin is marked as 'Active' in the WordPress plugins list, then access the plugin settings panel to verify if any contact form submissions have been saved to the database.
    Affected if The plugin is active and contains stored form submission data that could be exported
  3. Verify CSV export functionality is accessible
    Navigate to the plugin menu in WordPress admin (typically under 'CF7 Database' or similar) and look for an export option labeled 'CSV Export', 'Export to CSV', or similar. Check if the feature exists in the plugin interface.
    Affected if The CSV export feature is present and accessible without administrative restrictions
  4. Inspect any existing CSV export files
    Locate previously exported CSV files in the uploads directory (wp-content/uploads/) or downloads folder. Open a sample CSV file in a text editor to inspect the raw content for spreadsheet formula characters such as =, +, -, @, tab, or carriage return at the start of fields.
    Affected if Any field in the CSV begins with formula injection characters (=, +, -, @) or contains suspicious patterns like hyperlinks

You are affected if the Ciphercoin Contact Form 7 Database Addon plugin version is below 1.2.5.6 and the CSV export feature is accessible, as unsanitized user input could have been injected into exported data.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.2.5.6 or later
Fixed in 1.2.5.6
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to version 1.2.5.6 or later which includes proper input sanitization for CSV exports. If immediate upgrade is not possible, disable CSV export functionality until the patch can be applied.

Fix this in Contact Form 7 Database Addon Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,376.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-24144 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data