dbcve.org
SQL InjectionWeakness · CWE-89

CVE-2025-8977

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-28
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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 Simple Download Monitor plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to time-based SQL Injection via the order parameter in all versions up to, and including, 3.9.33 due to insufficient escaping on the user supplied parameter and lack of sufficient preparation on the existing SQL query. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, and permissions granted by an Administrator, to append additional SQL queries into 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 Simple Download Monitor WordPress plugin (versions up to 3.9.33) contains a time-based SQL Injection vulnerability in the order parameter. The flaw stems from insufficient escaping of user-supplied input combined with lack of prepared statements in the existing SQL query, allowing authenticated attackers with Contributor-level access to inject malicious SQL queries.

MitigationUpdate the Simple Download Monitor plugin to version 3.9.34 or later, which contains the vendor patch addressing proper SQL parameter escaping and prepared statements.

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 Simple Download Monitor plugin is installed
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Simple Download Monitor', or check the wp-content/plugins directory for the simple-download-monitor folder.
    Affected if The plugin is not installed or not present in the WordPress installation.
  2. Check the installed plugin version
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins, find Simple Download Monitor, and note the version number displayed below the plugin name.
    Affected if The installed version is 3.9.33 or earlier (any version up to and including 3.9.33).
  3. Verify Contributor-level or higher user roles exist
    In WordPress admin, go to Users > Users List and check if any users have the 'Contributor' role or higher (Author, Editor, Administrator).
    Affected if At least one user with Contributor-level access or higher exists on the site.
  4. Confirm the order parameter is accessible in download listings
    Inspect any page on the site that displays downloads (frontend shortcode output or admin download list views). The vulnerability exists in the 'order' parameter used for sorting download lists.
    Affected if The site uses Simple Download Monitor shortcodes or admin views that allow sorting by order, and unauthenticated or Contributor-level users can access these endpoints.

If Simple Download Monitor is installed at version 3.9.33 or earlier AND the site has users with Contributor-level access, the environment is vulnerable to SQL injection via the order parameter.

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 the Simple Download Monitor plugin to version 3.9.34 or later, which contains the vendor patch addressing proper SQL parameter escaping and prepared statements.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Simple Download Monitor version 3.9.34 or higher

  1. Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. Find Simple Download Monitor in the plugin list
  4. Click 'Update now' if an update is available, or manually update to version 3.9.34 or higher
  5. Verify the update was successful by checking the plugin version

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
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2025-8977 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
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