CVE-2024-6027 is a critical SQL Injection vulnerability identified in the Themify – WooCommerce Product Filter plugin for WordPress, affecting all versions up to and including 1.4.9. The root cause is improper neutralization of special elements in SQL commands (CWE-89), specifically due to insufficient escaping of the user-supplied 'conditions' parameter. This flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to inject malicious SQL code into existing queries, enabling time-based SQL Injection attacks. Time-based SQL Injection is a blind injection technique where attackers infer data by observing response delays, allowing extraction of sensitive information such as user credentials, payment data, or other confidential database contents. The vulnerability does not require any authentication or user interaction, making it highly exploitable remotely over the network. The CVSS v3.1 score of 9.8 reflects the critical impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, with low attack complexity and no privileges required. Although no known exploits are currently reported in the wild, the widespread use of WooCommerce and WordPress combined with the severity of this vulnerability makes it a significant threat. The plugin’s lack of proper input sanitization and query preparation highlights a critical security oversight in handling user inputs within SQL commands. Organizations relying on this plugin for e-commerce filtering functionality are at risk of data breaches, unauthorized data manipulation, and potential service disruption.

The impact of CVE-2024-6027 is severe for organizations using the Themify – WooCommerce Product Filter plugin. Successful exploitation can lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive customer and business data stored in the WordPress database, including personal information, payment details, and proprietary business data. Attackers can manipulate database queries to alter or delete data, compromising data integrity and potentially disrupting e-commerce operations. The availability of the service can also be affected if attackers execute queries that lock or crash the database. Given the unauthenticated nature of the attack, any external attacker can target vulnerable sites, increasing the risk of widespread exploitation. This can result in significant financial losses, reputational damage, regulatory penalties, and loss of customer trust. Organizations with large e-commerce platforms or those handling sensitive customer data are particularly vulnerable. The lack of current known exploits does not diminish the urgency, as proof-of-concept exploits could emerge rapidly, leading to active exploitation campaigns.

1. Immediate upgrade: Monitor the vendor’s announcements and apply any official patches or updates as soon as they become available. 2. Input validation and sanitization: Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block malicious payloads targeting the 'conditions' parameter, focusing on SQL injection patterns. 3. Principle of least privilege: Restrict the database user permissions used by the WordPress site to only necessary operations, preventing unauthorized data manipulation or extraction. 4. Database query hardening: Where possible, modify or override plugin code to use prepared statements or parameterized queries to prevent injection. 5. Monitoring and logging: Enable detailed logging of database queries and monitor for unusual or delayed responses indicative of time-based SQL injection attempts. 6. Network-level controls: Limit access to the WordPress admin and plugin endpoints to trusted IPs or through VPNs to reduce exposure. 7. Backup and recovery: Maintain regular, secure backups of the database to enable rapid recovery in case of data compromise or corruption. 8. Security testing: Conduct penetration testing and code reviews focusing on SQL injection vectors in the plugin and related components.