Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2026-25544 is a critical-severity SQL Injection (CWE-89) vulnerability in Payloadcms Payload. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 37th 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-2026-25544 is a blind SQL injection vulnerability in Payload, a free and open source headless content management system. Prior to version 3.73.0, user input provided when querying JSON or richText fields was directly embedded into SQL queries without proper escaping, allowing attackers to manipulate database operations. The issue is classified under CWE-89 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), reflecting its critical severity due to high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts.
An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability remotely over the network with low complexity and no privileges required. By crafting malicious queries, they can extract sensitive data such as user emails and password reset tokens from the database. This enables full account takeover without needing to crack passwords, potentially compromising entire user bases.
The vulnerability was published on 2026-02-06 and fixed in Payload version 3.73.0. The official advisory at https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/security/advisories/GHSA-xx6w-jxg9-2wh8 details the patch, recommending immediate upgrades to the fixed version for mitigation.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-5570
Vulnerability Data
Payload is a free and open source headless content management system. Prior to 3.73.0, when querying JSON or richText fields, user input was directly embedded into SQL without escaping, enabling blind SQL injection attacks. An unauthenticated attacker could extract sensitive…
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data (emails, password reset tokens) and achieve full account takeover without password cracking. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.73.0.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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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.
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.
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.
The same secure-coding and static-analysis activities surface missing neutralization of SQL metacharacters before the system is accepted.
Early warnings and shared best-practice information help organizations apply the latest remediation techniques against SQL-injection vulnerabilities.
Threat-intelligence feeds that surface new SQL-injection campaigns enable rapid updates to query-construction defenses and detection signatures before exploitation occurs.
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.
Language-specific secure coding rules, peer review and SAST together prevent the construction of SQL statements from untrusted data without proper parameterization or escaping.