CVE-2018-25398: Open ISES Project SQLi Vulnerability

CVE-2018-25398 Overview

CVE-2018-25398 is a SQL injection vulnerability [CWE-89] in The Open ISES Project version 3.30A. The flaw resides in the main.php script, which fails to sanitize the frm_passwd POST parameter before passing it into a SQL query. Unauthenticated remote attackers can inject arbitrary SQL statements to read sensitive database content, including usernames, database names, and backend version information. The vulnerability is exploitable over the network with low attack complexity and no user interaction required.

Critical Impact
Unauthenticated attackers can extract sensitive database contents from affected Open ISES 3.30A installations through a single crafted POST request to main.php.

Affected Products

The Open ISES Project 3.30A
main.php authentication handler processing the frm_passwd parameter
Installations exposed via web-facing deployments of OpenISES

Discovery Timeline

2026-05-29 - CVE-2018-25398 published to NVD
2026-05-29 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2018-25398

Vulnerability Analysis

The Open ISES Project 3.30A accepts a password value through the frm_passwd POST parameter submitted to main.php. The application concatenates this user-controlled input directly into a SQL query without parameterization or input validation. An attacker can break out of the intended query context and append arbitrary SQL clauses, including UNION SELECT statements, to retrieve data from any accessible table.

Because the injection point sits on the pre-authentication login workflow, no credentials are required to trigger the flaw. The attack vector is purely network-based and requires only the ability to send HTTP POST requests to the application.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper neutralization of special elements used in a SQL command [CWE-89]. The main.php handler relies on string concatenation to build queries from the frm_passwd field. Standard SQL metacharacters such as single quotes, comments, and statement terminators are not escaped or rejected, allowing query structure manipulation.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires the attacker to send a POST request to main.php with a SQL payload in the frm_passwd parameter. Typical exfiltration payloads use boolean-based or UNION-based techniques to enumerate user(), database(), and version(), then iterate over information_schema to pull arbitrary data. See the Exploit-DB #45645 and VulnCheck SQL Injection Advisory entries for parameter naming and request structure.

No verified code examples are published in the enriched data for this article. Refer to the linked advisories for full request traces.

Detection Methods for CVE-2018-25398

Indicators of Compromise

POST requests to main.php containing SQL metacharacters such as ', --, UNION, or SELECT within the frm_passwd field.
Web server logs showing unusually long or URL-encoded frm_passwd values from a single source IP.
Database error messages referencing syntax errors near user-supplied input during authentication attempts.

Detection Strategies

Inspect HTTP request bodies for SQL injection signatures targeting the frm_passwd parameter on main.php endpoints.
Correlate failed login bursts with database query errors to identify probing activity against the OpenISES login flow.
Use web application firewall (WAF) rulesets that flag UNION-based and boolean-based SQL injection patterns in POST bodies.

Monitoring Recommendations

Forward OpenISES web server access logs and backend database error logs to a central analytics platform for query and alerting.
Track baseline POST request sizes to main.php and alert on statistical outliers indicative of payload injection.
Monitor outbound database connections from the OpenISES host for unusual information_schema access patterns.

How to Mitigate CVE-2018-25398

Immediate Actions Required

Restrict network access to OpenISES 3.30A deployments to trusted internal networks until remediation is complete.
Deploy a WAF rule that blocks SQL metacharacters in the frm_passwd POST parameter on main.php.
Audit database accounts used by OpenISES and reduce their privileges to the minimum required for application function.

Patch Information

No vendor patch is referenced in the available advisory data. Review the OpenISES Project Overview and OpenISES Latest Release Download for any updated builds, and consult the VulnCheck SQL Injection Advisory for current remediation guidance.

Workarounds

Place the application behind an authenticated reverse proxy to remove unauthenticated exposure of main.php.
Implement server-side input validation that rejects non-alphanumeric characters in the frm_passwd field before query execution.
If source modification is feasible, refactor the authentication query in main.php to use parameterized statements or prepared queries.

bash

# Example WAF rule (ModSecurity) blocking SQLi in frm_passwd
SecRule ARGS:frm_passwd "@rx (?i)(union(\s|\+)+select|--|';|/\*|information_schema)" \
    "id:1002518,phase:2,deny,status:403,log,msg:'CVE-2018-25398 SQLi attempt in frm_passwd'"