The ElementSearchController::actionSearch() endpoint is missing the unset() protection that
was added to ElementIndexesController in GHSA-2453-mppf-46cj.
The exact same SQL injection vulnerability (including criteria[orderBy], the original advisory vector) works on this controller because the fix was never applied to it.
Any authenticated control panel user (no admin required) can inject arbitrary SQL via criteria[where],
criteria[orderBy], or other query properties, and extract the full database contents via boolean-based blind injection.
Users should update to the patched 5.9.9 release to mitigate the issue.
{
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-89"
],
"github_reviewed": true,
"github_reviewed_at": "2026-03-11T00:27:23Z",
"nvd_published_at": "2026-03-11T18:16:24Z",
"severity": "HIGH"
}