CVE-2020-6010 in LearnPress Plugin
Summary
by MITRE
LearnPress Wordpress plugin version prior and including 3.2.6.7 is vulnerable to SQL Injection
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/07/2025
The LearnPress WordPress plugin represents a popular learning management system that enables educators to create and manage online courses within WordPress environments. This particular vulnerability affects versions 3.2.6.7 and earlier, exposing installations to significant security risks. The plugin's widespread adoption across educational institutions and content creators makes this vulnerability particularly concerning from a threat landscape perspective. Security researchers identified that the plugin's implementation fails to properly sanitize user input before incorporating it into database queries, creating an avenue for malicious actors to manipulate the underlying database structure.
The technical flaw manifests through improper input validation within the plugin's database interaction mechanisms. Specifically, when processing user-supplied parameters, the plugin directly incorporates these values into SQL query strings without adequate sanitization or parameterization. This vulnerability falls under the category of SQL injection attacks where an attacker can craft malicious input that alters the intended execution flow of database commands. The flaw occurs in the plugin's handling of course data and user interactions, particularly when processing parameters related to course queries, user progress tracking, and content management functions. Attackers can exploit this weakness to execute arbitrary SQL commands against the WordPress database, potentially gaining unauthorized access to sensitive information including user credentials, course materials, and system configurations.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft, as it enables attackers to manipulate the entire learning management system. Successful exploitation could allow threat actors to extract all user accounts, modify course content, delete educational materials, or even escalate privileges within the WordPress installation. The vulnerability particularly affects educational institutions that rely on LearnPress for their online learning platforms, potentially compromising thousands of student and faculty records. From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability represents a critical risk to data integrity and confidentiality, as it provides attackers with direct access to the backend database without requiring authentication for the administrative interface. The attack surface is broad since the vulnerability can be exploited through multiple entry points within the plugin's functionality, including course browsing, user registration, and progress tracking features.
Mitigation strategies should focus on immediate plugin updates to versions 3.2.6.8 or later, which contain the necessary patches to address the SQL injection vulnerability. Organizations should implement comprehensive security monitoring to detect potential exploitation attempts and maintain regular backup procedures to ensure rapid recovery from any successful attacks. Network segmentation and web application firewalls can provide additional protective layers, while input validation and parameterized queries should be enforced throughout the plugin's codebase. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-89, which specifically addresses SQL injection flaws in software systems. From an attack framework perspective, this vulnerability would map to multiple ATT&CK techniques including credential access through database queries and privilege escalation via unauthorized database manipulation. Security teams should conduct thorough penetration testing to verify that the patch has effectively resolved the vulnerability and monitor for any related exploitation attempts in their network traffic logs.