NVD / CVE Program· CNA WPScan

CVE-2021-24221: Quiz And Survey Master < 7.1.12 - Authenticated SQL injection via shortcode

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 36/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 1.8% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 79.7% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
No fixed version is recorded, but the references include a patch (commit or PR) link.

Low priority for now. See the fix and affected versions sections below.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

The Quiz And Survey Master – Best Quiz, Exam and Survey Plugin for WordPress plugin before 7.1.12 did not sanitise the result_id GET parameter on pages with the [qsm_result] shortcode without id attribute, concatenating it in a SQL statement and leading to an SQL injection. The lowest role allowed to use this shortcode in post or pages being author, such user could gain unauthorised access to the DBMS. If the shortcode (without the id attribute) is embed on a public page or post, then unauthenticated users could exploit the injection.

HighCVSS 8.8 · v3.1—No exploit No fix recorded

SQL injection

Published: Apr 12, 2021
Updated: Jun 16, 2026
EPSS: 1.8% · 79th percentile
CWE: CWE-89

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 35 / 40 · 8.8 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 1 / 30 · 1.8%

Is Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Quiz Maker & Survey Maker on your site?

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
expresstech	quiz and survey master	cpe:2.3:a:expresstech:quiz_and_survey_master

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

expresstech quiz and survey masterbefore 7.1.12

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (WPScan). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

Unknown Quiz And Survey Master – Best Quiz, Exam and Survey Plugin for WordPress
- 7.1.12 and later · before 7.1.12affected

Same product

expresstech: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2020-35951An issue was discovered in the Quiz and Survey Master plugin before 7.0.1 for WordPress.
62This week
CVE-2020-35949An issue was discovered in the Quiz and Survey Master plugin before 7.0.1 for WordPress.
41Plan
CVE-2022-41652WordPress Quiz And Survey Master plugin <= 7.3.10 - Bypass vulnerability
39Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2019-17599Dec 13, 2019 · The quiz-master-next (aka Quiz And Survey Master) plugin before 6.3.5 for WordPress is affected by: Cross Site Scripting (XSS).
24Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2016-11085Aug 16, 2020 · php/qmn_options_questions_tab.php in the quiz-master-next plugin before 4.7.9 for WordPress allows CSRF, with resultant stored XSS, via the
26Monitor
Later →CVE-2021-24368Jun 20, 2021 · Quiz And Survey Master < 7.1.18 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
24Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

plugins.trac.wordpress.orgchangeset 2479603

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

Nguyen Van Khanh - SunCSR (Sun* Cyber Security Research)

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

—

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

CVE-2020-35951101 days apartAn issue was discovered in the Quiz and Survey Master plugin before 7.0.1 for WordPress.
62This week

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
A low-privileged account is enough.
No user action is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: high · data can be read
Integrity: high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability: high · the service can be disrupted

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: Low
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: High
Integrity impact: High
Availability impact: High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-89 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Root cause

The query text is built by concatenating user input. The database cannot tell where the data ends and the command begins.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-89 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1const owner = req.query.owner;
2const rows = await db.query(
3  "SELECT * FROM files WHERE owner = '" + owner + "'"
4);

Fixed

1const owner = req.query.owner;
2const rows = await db.query(
3  "SELECT * FROM files WHERE owner = $1",
4  [owner]
5);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

—

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/2479603/

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records