CVE-2023-6981 is a medium-severity SQL Injection vulnerability affecting the 'WP SMS – Messaging & SMS Notification for WordPress, WooCommerce, GravityForms, etc' plugin developed by mostafas1990. This plugin integrates SMS messaging and notification capabilities into WordPress and popular extensions such as WooCommerce and GravityForms. The vulnerability exists in all versions up to and including 6.5 and arises due to improper neutralization of special elements in SQL commands, specifically via the 'group_id' parameter. The plugin fails to sufficiently escape or prepare this user-supplied parameter before incorporating it into SQL queries, allowing an authenticated attacker with contributor-level or higher privileges to inject arbitrary SQL code. This injection can be used to append additional SQL queries to existing ones, enabling extraction of sensitive database information. Furthermore, this flaw can be leveraged to achieve reflected Cross-site Scripting (XSS), compounding the risk. The CVSS 3.1 score is 6.1 (medium), reflecting network attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges required, but requiring user interaction and impacting confidentiality and integrity with no availability impact. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild. The vulnerability is significant because contributor-level access is relatively common in WordPress environments, and the plugin is widely used in e-commerce and form management contexts, making sensitive customer and transactional data potentially exposed. The lack of a patch link indicates that a fix may not yet be publicly available, increasing the urgency for mitigation.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a notable risk, especially for those relying on WordPress sites with WooCommerce or GravityForms integrations for e-commerce, customer engagement, or data collection. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive customer data, including personal and transactional information, potentially violating GDPR requirements and resulting in regulatory penalties. The ability to perform reflected XSS also raises the risk of session hijacking, phishing, or further compromise of user accounts. Given the widespread use of WordPress and the popularity of the affected plugin, many SMEs and larger enterprises across Europe could be impacted. The attack requires contributor-level access, which might be obtained through compromised credentials or insider threats, making internal security hygiene critical. The vulnerability could disrupt trust in online services and damage brand reputation. Although no availability impact is noted, the confidentiality and integrity breaches alone are significant for compliance and operational security.

European organizations should immediately audit their WordPress installations to identify the presence of the affected 'WP SMS – Messaging & SMS Notification' plugin. Until an official patch is released, organizations should consider the following mitigations: 1) Restrict contributor-level access strictly to trusted users and review user roles and permissions regularly to minimize risk exposure. 2) Implement Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious SQL injection patterns targeting the 'group_id' parameter. 3) Employ input validation and sanitization at the application level where possible, including disabling or restricting plugin features that accept user input for 'group_id'. 4) Monitor logs for unusual database query patterns or failed login attempts that could indicate exploitation attempts. 5) Consider temporarily disabling or uninstalling the plugin if it is not critical to operations until a secure version is available. 6) Educate site administrators and contributors about phishing and credential security to prevent privilege escalation. 7) Keep WordPress core and all plugins updated to reduce the attack surface. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on access control, monitoring, and temporary risk reduction tailored to this specific vulnerability.