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CVE-2026-54843 – Unauthenticated SQL Injection – MDTF (Meta Data and Taxonomies Filter) WordPress…

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Summary

CVE-2026-54843 is a critical unauthenticated SQL injection vulnerability in the MDTF – Meta Data and Taxonomies Filter WordPress plugin by PluginUs.Net, affecting all versions up to and including 1.3.7. With a CVSS v3.1 score of 9.3 (Critical), this flaw allows any unauthenticated remote attacker to extract sensitive data directly from the underlying WordPress database — with no credentials or user interaction required. A patched version (1.3.8) has been released and immediate upgrade is strongly recommended.

Technical details

  • Root cause: Improper neutralization of special elements used in SQL commands (CWE-89), stemming from insufficient input sanitization within the plugin’s filtering and search query processing logic.
  • Trigger conditions: No authentication, session, or user interaction is required. Any anonymous HTTP request to a WordPress site running an affected version of the plugin is sufficient to trigger the vulnerability.
  • Attack vector: Fully remote and network-accessible (AV:N), with low attack complexity (AC:L). The attack requires no special prerequisites, making it trivially weaponizable at scale against internet-exposed WordPress sites.
  • Impact: Successful exploitation enables an attacker to read arbitrary data from the WordPress database, including user credentials, personally identifiable information (PII), session tokens, and application secrets. The Changed Scope metric (S:C) indicates that the impact extends beyond the plugin’s own context to the broader database environment. Confidentiality impact is rated High (C:H), with an additional Low availability impact (A:L).

Affected software

  • MDTF – Meta Data and Taxonomies Filter (WordPress plugin slug: wp-meta-data-filter-and-taxonomy-filter) by PluginUs.Net — versions ≤ 1.3.7

Severity

  • CVSS v3.1 Base Score: 9.3 (Critical)
  • Vector String: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:L

Mitigation and recommended actions

  • Immediate: Update the MDTF plugin to version 1.3.8 or later. The security fix was shipped in version 1.3.8; the current available version is 1.3.9. Updates can be applied directly through the WordPress admin dashboard or by downloading the latest release from the WordPress Plugin Directory.
  • If immediate patching is not feasible: Consider temporarily deactivating the plugin and restricting access to WordPress AJAX endpoints (/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php) from untrusted external sources at the network or WAF level until the update can be applied.

IONIX Status

The IONIX research team is tracking ongoing exploitation attempts and recommends immediate patching. Potentially affected assets are outlined in this post.

References

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