CVE-2025-14770: 
WordPress vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2025-14770 is an unauthenticated SQL Injection vulnerability in the Shipping Rate By Cities plugin for WordPress, affecting all versions up to and including 2.0.0. The flaw exists in the city parameter due to insufficient escaping of user-supplied input and lack of proper SQL query preparation, allowing unauthenticated attackers to append malicious SQL queries and extract sensitive data from the database. It was published on January 14, 2026, and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (High) (Red Hat CVE, Wordfence).

The root cause is classified as CWE-89 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command). The vulnerable code resides in shiprate-cities-method-class.php at approximately line 372, where the city parameter is incorporated into an SQL query without adequate sanitization or use of prepared statements (Wordfence, WordPress Plugin Trac). Because no authentication is required to trigger the vulnerable parameter, any remote attacker can craft a malicious HTTP request to append additional SQL logic — including UNION-based, error-based, or blind (time-based) injection techniques — to the existing query. This attack vector is network-accessible, requires no privileges, and no user interaction (Red Hat CVE).

Successful exploitation allows unauthenticated attackers to read arbitrary data from the WordPress database, including user credentials (hashed passwords), email addresses, session tokens, plugin configuration data, and any other sensitive information stored in the database. The CVSS assessment indicates a high confidentiality impact with no integrity or availability impact, meaning the primary risk is data exfiltration rather than data modification or service disruption (Red Hat CVE, Wordfence). Extracted credentials could enable lateral movement by allowing attackers to authenticate as administrators and achieve full site compromise.

No public exploit code or active in-the-wild exploitation has been confirmed at this time. The EPSS score is approximately 0.064%, indicating a low current probability of exploitation in the near term (Feedly). The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. However, the unauthenticated nature and low attack complexity make it an attractive target for automated scanning tools, and the plugin's install base (under 200 active installations per available data) limits the overall attack surface (Infinitsec).

1. Reconnaissance: Identify WordPress sites running the Shipping Rate By Cities plugin (versions ≤ 2.0.0) using tools like WPScan, Shodan, or Google dorks (e.g., inurl:wp-content/plugins/shipping-rate-by-cities).
2. Locate the vulnerable endpoint: Identify the WooCommerce shipping rate calculation endpoint or form that accepts the city parameter and passes it to the backend query in shiprate-cities-method-class.php.
3. Craft a malicious payload: Inject SQL syntax into the city parameter. For example, append a UNION SELECT statement or a time-based blind payload such as city=TestCity' AND SLEEP(5)-- to confirm injection.
4. Extract data: Use automated tools like sqlmap targeting the vulnerable parameter (e.g., sqlmap -u "https://target.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" --data="action=get_shipping_rate&city=TestCity" --dbs) to enumerate databases, tables, and extract sensitive records such as wp_users.
5. Leverage extracted credentials: Crack or use extracted password hashes to authenticate as a WordPress administrator and achieve full site control (Wordfence, WordPress Plugin Trac).

• Network: Unusual HTTP POST or GET requests to WooCommerce/AJAX endpoints containing SQL keywords (UNION, SELECT, SLEEP, BENCHMARK, --, ') in the city parameter; repeated requests from a single IP with varying SQL payloads.
• Logs: WordPress/Apache/Nginx access logs showing requests to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php or shipping-related endpoints with encoded or plaintext SQL injection strings in the city field; abnormally high response times suggesting time-based blind injection (SLEEP).
• Database: Unexpected queries in MySQL slow query logs involving UNION SELECT or multi-statement patterns originating from the WordPress application user.
• File System: Presence of web shells or newly created PHP files in wp-content/plugins/shipping-rate-by-cities/ or other plugin directories, potentially dropped after credential compromise.

Site administrators should immediately update the Shipping Rate By Cities plugin to a version beyond 2.0.0 if a patched release is available, or deactivate and remove the plugin entirely until a fix is confirmed (Wordfence). As a temporary workaround, deploying a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block SQL injection patterns in the city parameter can reduce exposure. Wordfence users with the premium firewall enabled receive protection via updated rules; free users should prioritize manual remediation (Wordfence Weekly Report).

Wordfence included CVE-2025-14770 in its weekly WordPress vulnerability report for January 12–18, 2026, flagging it as a notable unauthenticated SQL injection issue (Wordfence Weekly Report). RedPacketSecurity shared the advisory on social media platforms including Mastodon and Twitter/X, contributing to broader community awareness. The vulnerability received limited but standard coverage across CVE aggregation platforms (VulDB, CVEFeed, Vulners), consistent with its relatively small affected install base.