CVE-2018-25195: Wecodex Hotel CMS SQLi Vulnerability

CVE-2018-25195 Overview

Wecodex Hotel CMS 1.0 contains an SQL injection vulnerability in the admin login functionality that allows unauthenticated attackers to bypass authentication by injecting SQL code. Attackers can submit malicious SQL payloads through the username parameter in POST requests to index.php with action=processlogin to extract sensitive database information or gain unauthorized administrative access.

Critical Impact

This SQL injection vulnerability enables complete authentication bypass, allowing unauthenticated remote attackers to gain administrative access to the Hotel CMS system and potentially extract or modify sensitive guest and booking data.

Affected Products

• Wecodex Hotel CMS 1.0
• Hotel Management System in PHP and MySQL by WeCodex

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-03-26 - CVE CVE-2018-25195 published to NVD
• 2026-03-26 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2018-25195

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as CWE-89 (SQL Injection), a critical web application security flaw. The Wecodex Hotel CMS fails to properly sanitize user input in the admin login form, specifically within the username parameter. When processing login requests via POST to index.php with the action=processlogin parameter, user-supplied data is directly concatenated into SQL queries without adequate validation or parameterization.

The lack of input sanitization allows attackers to manipulate the SQL query structure by injecting specially crafted payloads. This can result in authentication bypass, unauthorized data access, and potential full database compromise. Hotel management systems typically store sensitive information including guest personal details, payment information, and booking records, making this vulnerability particularly concerning.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is improper input validation and the use of dynamic SQL query construction. The application directly incorporates user-supplied input from the username field into SQL statements without using prepared statements or parameterized queries. This fundamental coding error allows attackers to break out of the intended query context and inject arbitrary SQL commands.

Attack Vector

The attack is network-accessible and requires no authentication or user interaction. An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP POST request to the admin login endpoint. The malicious payload is inserted into the username parameter, where common SQL injection techniques such as ' OR '1'='1 or admin'-- can be used to manipulate the authentication query logic.

By crafting appropriate payloads, attackers can:

• Bypass authentication entirely and gain administrative access
• Extract sensitive data from the database using UNION-based or time-based blind SQL injection
• Potentially modify or delete database records
• Escalate privileges within the application

Technical details and proof-of-concept information are available in the Exploit-DB #44729 entry and the VulnCheck Advisory.

Detection Methods for CVE-2018-25195

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual POST requests to index.php with action=processlogin containing SQL syntax characters such as single quotes, double dashes, or UNION keywords
• Multiple failed login attempts followed by successful authentication from the same source IP
• Database error messages appearing in application logs indicating SQL syntax errors
• Unexpected administrative sessions created without corresponding legitimate login activity

Detection Strategies

• Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block common SQL injection patterns in POST parameters
• Monitor authentication logs for anomalous login patterns, particularly successful logins after multiple failures
• Configure intrusion detection systems (IDS) to alert on SQL injection attack signatures targeting login forms
• Review database query logs for unusual or malformed queries originating from the web application

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed logging for all authentication attempts including full request parameters
• Set up alerts for database errors that may indicate SQL injection attempts
• Monitor for unauthorized changes to user accounts or privilege escalations
• Implement rate limiting on login endpoints to slow automated injection attacks

How to Mitigate CVE-2018-25195

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict access to the administrative login page to trusted IP addresses only using firewall rules or .htaccess configurations
• Deploy a web application firewall (WAF) with SQL injection protection enabled
• Consider taking the vulnerable Hotel CMS offline until a patched version is available or compensating controls are in place
• Review database logs and user accounts for signs of compromise

Patch Information

No official patch information is available from the vendor at this time. Organizations using Wecodex Hotel CMS 1.0 should contact WeCodex directly or consult the WeCodex Item Description for updates. Given the age and severity of this vulnerability, migration to a more actively maintained hotel management solution may be advisable.

Workarounds

• Implement input validation and parameterized queries at the application level if source code access is available
• Use a web application firewall to filter malicious SQL injection payloads
• Restrict administrative interface access to internal networks or VPN connections only
• Implement additional authentication mechanisms such as IP whitelisting or two-factor authentication before the login form

# Example: Apache .htaccess configuration to restrict admin access by IP
<Files "index.php">
    <If "%{QUERY_STRING} =~ /action=processlogin/">
        Require ip 192.168.1.0/24
        Require ip 10.0.0.0/8
    </If>
</Files>