CVE-2024-11711 is an SQL Injection vulnerability categorized under CWE-89, found in the WP Job Portal plugin for WordPress, a system designed to facilitate recruitment and job board functionalities. The flaw exists in all versions up to and including 2.2.1 due to insufficient escaping and lack of prepared statements on the 'resumeid' parameter. This parameter is user-supplied and directly incorporated into SQL queries without adequate sanitization, enabling unauthenticated attackers to append arbitrary SQL commands. Such injection can be exploited to extract sensitive information from the backend database, potentially including user credentials, personal data, or other confidential records stored within the recruitment system. The vulnerability requires no authentication or user interaction, making it easier to exploit remotely over the network. Although no exploits have been reported in the wild yet, the vulnerability's nature and ease of exploitation pose a significant risk. The CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 reflects a high severity with network attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges required, and no user interaction needed. The vulnerability impacts confidentiality but does not affect data integrity or availability. The lack of a patch at the time of reporting necessitates immediate mitigation efforts by administrators to prevent potential data breaches.

The primary impact of this vulnerability is the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive data stored in the WP Job Portal database. Attackers can leverage the SQL Injection flaw to extract personal information of job applicants, company details, and potentially administrative credentials. This can lead to privacy violations, identity theft, and further compromise of the affected systems if credentials are reused elsewhere. Since the vulnerability does not require authentication or user interaction, it can be exploited remotely and at scale, increasing the risk of widespread data leakage. Organizations relying on this plugin for recruitment processes may suffer reputational damage, regulatory penalties (especially under data protection laws like GDPR), and operational disruptions if attackers use the extracted data for phishing or other attacks. The absence of integrity or availability impact means attackers cannot modify or delete data or cause denial of service directly via this vulnerability, but the confidentiality breach alone is significant. The vulnerability's presence in a widely used WordPress plugin amplifies its potential impact globally.

1. Immediately monitor for updates or patches released by the WP Job Portal plugin developers and apply them as soon as they become available. 2. Until an official patch is released, implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block SQL Injection attempts targeting the 'resumeid' parameter. 3. Employ strict input validation and sanitization on all user-supplied parameters, especially 'resumeid', to reject suspicious characters or patterns indicative of injection. 4. Modify the plugin code to use parameterized queries or prepared statements to prevent direct concatenation of user input into SQL commands. 5. Conduct regular security audits and vulnerability scans on WordPress sites using this plugin to detect potential exploitation attempts. 6. Limit database user privileges to the minimum necessary to reduce the impact of any successful injection. 7. Educate site administrators about the risks and signs of SQL Injection attacks to improve incident response readiness. 8. Consider temporarily disabling the plugin or restricting access to the affected functionality if immediate patching is not feasible.