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 characters in SQL commands, allowing attackers to inject malicious SQL code. 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 server. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable over the network without requiring any user interaction or privileges, making it highly accessible to attackers. The CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 reflects the critical nature of this issue, with high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. While no public exploits are currently documented, the widespread use of WordPress and the popularity of education themes increase the likelihood of future exploitation attempts. The vulnerability affects websites using the HiStudy theme for educational institutions, which often store sensitive student and staff data, making them attractive targets. The lack of available patches at the time of disclosure necessitates immediate mitigation steps to reduce risk. This vulnerability highlights the importance of secure coding practices in WordPress themes, especially those handling user input for database queries.

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 access to sensitive personal data, including student records, grades, and staff information, violating GDPR and other data protection regulations. Data integrity can be compromised, resulting in altered or deleted records, which can disrupt academic operations and damage institutional reputation. Availability impacts include potential website defacement or denial of service through malicious database commands, affecting service continuity. The critical severity and ease of exploitation mean attackers can quickly compromise multiple sites, leading to widespread data breaches or ransomware deployment. The reputational damage and regulatory penalties for data breaches in Europe can be substantial. Additionally, the educational sector is often targeted by cyber espionage and hacktivist groups, increasing the threat level. Organizations lacking timely patching or mitigation controls face heightened exposure to these risks.

1. Immediately update the HiStudy WordPress theme to version 3.1.0 or later once available from Rainbow-Themes to patch the vulnerability. 2. If patching is not immediately possible, implement Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with SQL Injection detection and prevention rules tailored to block suspicious SQL payloads targeting the theme's endpoints. 3. Conduct a thorough security audit of all WordPress plugins and themes to identify and remediate other potential injection flaws. 4. Restrict database user permissions to the minimum necessary to limit the impact of any SQL injection exploitation. 5. Enable logging and monitoring of database queries and web application logs to detect anomalous activities indicative of exploitation attempts. 6. Educate site administrators on the risks of outdated themes and the importance of timely updates. 7. Consider deploying Content Security Policy (CSP) and other hardening measures to reduce attack surface. 8. Regularly back up website data and databases to enable rapid recovery in case of compromise. 9. Review and enforce secure coding guidelines for any customizations made to the theme or plugins.