Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessRegister WordPress Subscriber account
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DeliverySend crafted POST to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php
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ExploitInvoke unprotected plugin AJAX action
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ExecutionInject SQL payload via unsanitized parameter
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ImpactExfiltrate or modify entire WordPress database
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization Parameterized queries, prepared statements
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Initial Access, Persistence The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires a valid WordPress account at the Subscriber role or higher (PR:L per CVSS) - this is the single binding prerequisite. The Content Views plugin must be installed and active in any version prior to 4.5. The vulnerable code path is an AJAX action registered by the plugin and exposed at wp-admin/admin-ajax.php; no special Content Views feature or non-default configuration needs to be enabled beyond plugin activation. Sites with open user registration are most exposed because attackers can self-provision the required account with no human gating. Sites that disable open registration or require administrator approval for new accounts are meaningfully protected, since account acquisition becomes the binding bottleneck. No special server-side configuration, specific PHP settings, or particular Content Views view type is required - plugin presence alone is sufficient. |
| Impact | The CVSS 8.1 score (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N) accurately reflects a network-reachable, low-complexity flaw requiring only Subscriber-level access, with high confidentiality and integrity impact and no availability impact. The PR:L metric is the key risk moderator - mass exploitation requires a valid WordPress account, which limits fully automated drive-by attacks; SSVC's Automatable:no and the 6th-percentile EPSS (0.16%) corroborate this. However, SSVC rates technical impact as total, consistent with unrestricted database read and write via SQL injection, and a POC is publicly available from WPScan, which meaningfully elevates urgency beyond what the EPSS alone suggests. The divergence between low EPSS and high technical impact is best explained by the authentication prerequisite - sites permitting open user registration are at substantially higher risk, as the binding constraint is trivially removed. No conflicts between data sources were identified; all signals are internally consistent. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker registers a free Subscriber account on any WordPress site running Content Views below version 4.5 with open user registration enabled, then issues a crafted HTTP POST to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php targeting the plugin's unprotected AJAX action with a SQL injection payload embedded in an unsanitized parameter. A publicly available POC from WPScan lowers the skill threshold significantly. Through successive injected queries the attacker can dump the full WordPress database, including password hashes, email addresses, session tokens, and plugin configuration, or directly modify database content to escalate privileges or inject malicious data. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Aug 07, 2026
SQL injection in the Content Views WordPress plugin before 4.5 exposes the underlying WordPress database to any authenticated user, including low-privilege Subscribers. Two compounding weaknesses drive this: a missing capability check on an AJAX action allows unprivileged users to reach a sensitive endpoint, and unsanitized attacker-controlled input is then passed directly into a raw SQL query. A publicly available POC exists via WPScan, and SSVC rates the technical impact as total, though EPSS remains low at 0.16%, suggesting no widespread automated exploitation at time of analysis.
RemediationAI
The vendor-released fix is Content Views version 4.5; administrators should update immediately via the WordPress plugin dashboard or the WordPress plugin repository. The WPScan advisory at https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/3fa62b23-a0a7-4b42-b8dd-0eb6e01972b2/ confirms patch availability. If immediate patching is not feasible, the most effective compensating control is disabling open user registration (WordPress Settings > General > uncheck 'Anyone can register'), which removes the self-registration attack path - note this will prevent new subscriber sign-ups and should be evaluated against site requirements. A secondary control is deploying a Web Application Firewall rule to block SQL metacharacters in POST bodies targeting wp-admin/admin-ajax.php, though WAF bypass is possible and this is not a substitute for patching. Administrators should also audit existing Subscriber-level accounts for anomalous AJAX activity or unexpected database changes while the patch is being applied.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
Content Views is a WordPress plugin (CPE: cpe:2.3:a:unknown:content_views:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*) used to display and filter post content on WordPress sites. The vulnerability class is CWE-89 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in SQL Command - SQL Injection), arising from two compounding weaknesses. First, an AJAX action handler registered by the plugin omits a WordPress capability check (missing current_user_can() enforcement), allowing any authenticated session to invoke a privileged code path. Second, attacker-controlled input submitted to this action is incorporated into a raw SQL query without parameterization or escaping. Because WordPress exposes all registered AJAX actions over HTTP at wp-admin/admin-ajax.php, this endpoint is network-reachable to any user holding a valid session cookie, making the attack surface broad and trivially accessible.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
AJAX endpoint is network-accessible (AV:N); Subscriber account is sole prerequisite (PR:L); SQL injection grants full DB read/write (C:H/I:H) with no service disruption (A:N).
Primary rating from Vendor (WPScan).
CVSS VectorVendor: WPScan
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionCVE.org
The Content Views WordPress plugin before 4.5 does not perform a capability check on one of its AJAX actions and does not properly sanitise attacker-supplied data before using it in a SQL query, allowing any authenticated user, including Subscribers, to perform SQL injection attacks.
Executive ViewAI
SQL injection in Content Views WordPress plugin (CVE-2026-15361) enables authenticated low-privilege Subscriber users to extract the entire WordPress database, including user credentials and sensitive organizational data; publicly available exploit code exists. While current exploitation remains rare (0.2% EPSS), the vulnerability represents a critical risk to any WordPress site using the plugin, as it provides complete database access to unprivileged users. Organizations must prioritize patching to version 4.5+ to prevent credential theft and unauthorized data exfiltration.
Apply vendor patch.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
SQL injection exploits the way applications construct database queries by mixing user input directly into SQL statements.
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NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB