CVE-2026-96653: WP Directory Kit SQL injection vulnerability
medium 6.5 published 2026-10-10 · updated 2026-10-11
- Affected versions
- 1.5.9 and older
- Fixed in
- unknown
- Latest version
- 1.6.1
- Severity
- Medium · CVSS 6.5
- Active installs
- 2,000+
- Type
- SQL injection
What an attacker needs
- Access: A logged-in account with Subscriber-level access or higher.
CVSS vector (score by Wordfence): CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
What to do now
- Update WP Directory Kit to the latest version (1.6.1). The record does not name a fixed version, so also read the advisory below.
- If you cannot update right away, deactivate it until you can.
- Not sure which version you run? Check your version against every known WP Directory Kit issue.
With WP-CLI:
wp plugin get wpdirectorykit --field=version. - If you ran an affected version and something looks off (new admin users, spam pages, redirects), run the free scan below.
The advisory
The WP Directory Kit plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to time-based SQL Injection via 'display_name' Profile Field (Second-Order) in all versions up to, and including, 1.5.9 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 subscriber-level access and above, to append additional SQL queries into already existing queries that can be used to extract sensitive information from the database. This is a second-order injection: a Subscriber stores a display_name containing a single quote via their own profile, which WordPress preserves verbatim; the payload is then triggered when WdkCachedUserEditor::update_listings_user_editor() re-reads that stored value and passes it unsanitized to the SQL sink.
References
- NVD CVE-2026-96653 nvd.nist.gov
- Wordfence advisory www.wordfence.com
- Plugin source plugins.trac.wordpress.org
Related
Ran an affected version? Check your site for signs of a hack
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Where this data comes from
- CVE record, score and references: NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD), checked 2026-11-04. This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- Versions and install counts: wordpress.org/plugins/wpdirectorykit (Plugins API), fetched 2026-11-04.
- The summary, “what an attacker needs” and “what to do” sections are our plain-English reading of the record and the plugin's release history; the quoted description is the record's own text. Spot an error? Email Daniel.