Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-56421

SQLi in Limesurvey ≤ 6.15.3

Published
10 March 2026
Modified
05 July 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0047 38th percentile
Risk Priority 57 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-56421 is a high-severity SQL Injection (CWE-89) vulnerability in Limesurvey Limesurvey. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 38th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2025-56421 is an SQL injection vulnerability (CWE-89) in LimeSurvey versions before 6.15.4+250710. This flaw affects the open-source survey application, enabling a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information from the database. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N), reflecting high confidentiality impact accessible over the network with low complexity and no privileges or user interaction required.

A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability to extract sensitive data from the LimeSurvey database, such as survey responses or user details, by crafting and submitting malicious SQL inputs. The attack requires no special privileges and focuses solely on data disclosure, with no demonstrated impact on integrity or availability.

Advisories recommend upgrading to LimeSurvey version 6.15.4+250710 or later to mitigate the issue. Further details are available in the vendor notice at http://limesurvey.com and the security advisory at https://github.com/hongancalif/security-advisories/blob/main/CVE-2025-56421.md.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

SQL Injection vulnerability in LimeSurvey before v.6.15.4+250710 allows a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information from the database.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-6933Same product: Limesurvey Limesurvey
CVE-2023-26034Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-46914Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-44284Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-48722Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-4071Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-49085Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-25314Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-0528Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-8167Shared CWE-89

Affected Assets

limesurvey
limesurvey
≤ 6.15.3

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V6.2.5

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover SQLi flaws before deployment but does not stop their introduction.

Input validation directly stops untrusted data from reaching SQL query construction without neutralization.

Secure engineering principles require parameterized queries and input sanitization that structurally eliminate SQLi.

System monitoring can identify attempted SQLi exploitation via anomalous queries after the weakness exists.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly target injection flaws during coding and review so largely prevent CWE-89 introduction, yet the single broad outcome leaves residual risk from incomplete neutralization techniques or missed edge cases.

PR.AT-02 partial match
prevents

Training raises developer awareness of SQLi risks and can reduce introduction likelihood (partial) but removes none of the actual coding flaw's risk by itself since technical neutralization is still required.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

The same secure-coding and static-analysis activities surface missing neutralization of SQL metacharacters before the system is accepted.

prevents

Early warnings and shared best-practice information help organizations apply the latest remediation techniques against SQL-injection vulnerabilities.

prevents

Threat-intelligence feeds that surface new SQL-injection campaigns enable rapid updates to query-construction defenses and detection signatures before exploitation occurs.

prevents

Secure-coding rules and security testing phases mandate the use of parameterized queries or equivalent escaping, preventing the construction of dynamic SQL statements from untrusted input.

prevents

Language-specific secure coding rules, peer review and SAST together prevent the construction of SQL statements from untrusted data without proper parameterization or escaping.

References