CVE-2025-48089 is a critical SQL Injection vulnerability found in the Rainbow-Themes Education WordPress Theme named HiStudy, affecting all versions prior to 3.1.0. The vulnerability arises from improper neutralization of special elements used in SQL commands, allowing attackers to inject malicious SQL statements. This flaw enables unauthenticated remote attackers to manipulate backend database queries, potentially extracting sensitive data, modifying or deleting records, or executing administrative commands on the database. The vulnerability does not require any privileges or user interaction, making it highly exploitable over the network. The CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 reflects the high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, combined with low attack complexity and no authentication needed. Although no known exploits are reported in the wild yet, the widespread use of WordPress and the popularity of education themes increase the risk of rapid exploitation once public proof-of-concept code emerges. The vulnerability affects websites running the HiStudy theme, which is commonly used by educational institutions and organizations to manage content and learning resources. Attackers exploiting this vulnerability could gain unauthorized access to sensitive student data, administrative credentials, or disrupt educational services by defacing or taking down websites. The lack of available patches at the time of disclosure necessitates immediate mitigation steps to reduce exposure.

For European organizations, especially educational institutions and e-learning platforms using the HiStudy WordPress theme, this vulnerability poses a severe risk. Exploitation can lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive personal data, including student records and internal communications, violating GDPR and other data protection regulations. Integrity of educational content and administrative data can be compromised, leading to misinformation or manipulation of academic records. Availability impacts include potential website defacement, denial of service, or complete takeover of the web server, disrupting critical educational services. The reputational damage and regulatory penalties resulting from data breaches can be significant. Given the critical nature of the vulnerability and the ease of exploitation, European organizations face a high risk of targeted attacks, especially those with limited cybersecurity resources or delayed patch management processes.

1. Immediately upgrade the Rainbow-Themes Education WordPress Theme | HiStudy to version 3.1.0 or later once the patch is released by the vendor. 2. Until an official patch is available, implement strict input validation and sanitization on all user-supplied data interacting with the theme’s SQL queries, ideally by customizing the theme code or using security plugins that enforce query parameterization. 3. Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with rules specifically designed to detect and block SQL Injection attempts targeting WordPress themes and plugins. 4. Regularly audit and monitor web server logs for unusual SQL query patterns or suspicious access attempts. 5. Limit database user privileges associated with the WordPress installation to the minimum necessary to reduce the impact of potential exploitation. 6. Educate site administrators on the risks and signs of SQL Injection attacks and establish incident response plans for rapid containment. 7. Maintain up-to-date backups of website data and databases to enable quick restoration in case of compromise.