dbcve.org
SQL InjectionWeakness · CWE-89

CVE-2025-4396

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-05-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
The Relevanssi – A Better Search plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to time-based SQL Injection via the cats and tags query parameters in all versions up to, and including, 4.24.4 (Free) and <= 2.27.5 (Premium) due to insufficient escaping on the user supplied parameter and lack of sufficient preparation on the existing SQL query. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to append additional SQL queries to already existing queries that can be used to extract sensitive information from the database.

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 Relevanssi WordPress search plugin fails to properly sanitize the 'cats' and 'tags' query parameters, allowing unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary SQL queries. The vulnerability exists due to insufficient input escaping and lack of prepared statements in the SQL queries.

MitigationUpdate to the latest version of Relevanssi (Free 4.24.5+ or Premium 2.27.6+) when available, or implement a WAF rule to block SQL injection attempts on the affected parameters.

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

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

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. Verify Relevanssi plugin is installed
    Access WordPress admin panel, navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins, and look for Relevanssi (Free) or Relevanssi Premium in the list of active plugins
    Affected if The Relevanssi plugin appears in the WordPress plugin list and is activated
  2. Identify the installed Relevanssi version
    In the WordPress Plugins page, click on the Relevanssi plugin to view its details, or check the plugin header in wp-content/plugins/relevanssi/include/relevanssi.php (or premium version file) for the 'Version' declaration
    Affected if The version number is lower than 4.24.5 for Free or lower than 2.27.6 for Premium, or if the version cannot be determined (older installation)
  3. Confirm exposure of vulnerable parameters
    Test if the site accepts 'cats' or 'tags' query parameters by visiting a search URL such as /?s=test&cats=1 or /?s=test&tags=1 and observing whether the parameters are processed without error
    Affected if The 'cats' and/or 'tags' parameters are accepted and influence search results, indicating the vulnerable code path is reachable
  4. Inspect SQL query preparation
    If you have file access, examine the Relevanssi plugin file handling the search query (commonly in lib/relevanssi_search.php or similar) and look for direct variable insertion in SQL queries involving 'cats' or 'tags' variables
    Affected if The code uses raw variable concatenation in SQL queries (e.g., "SELECT * FROM ... WHERE ... $cats ...") rather than prepared statements with $wpdb->prepare() or parameterized queries

A user is affected if the Relevanssi plugin (Free below 4.24.5 or Premium below 2.27.6) is installed and active, and the 'cats' or 'tags' query parameters are accessible on the site, enabling unauthenticated SQL injection.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update to the latest version of Relevanssi (Free 4.24.5+ or Premium 2.27.6+) when available, or implement a WAF rule to block SQL injection attempts on the affected parameters.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Relevanssi Free: 4.24.5 or later; Relevanssi Premium: 2.27.6 or later

  1. Navigate to the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. Locate the Relevanssi plugin (Free or Premium depending on your installation)
  4. Check your current version number
  5. Update to the latest available version of the plugin

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-4396 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2025-4396 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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