CVE-2018-25413: AiOPMSD Final SQL Injection Vulnerability

CVE-2018-25413 Overview

CVE-2018-25413 is an SQL injection vulnerability in AiOPMSD Final 1.0.0, an open-source PHP-based music streaming application distributed via SourceForge. The flaw resides in search.php, which fails to sanitize the q GET parameter before incorporating it into a database query. Unauthenticated remote attackers can inject arbitrary SQL statements to read sensitive data, including database names, version strings, and stored user credentials. The weakness is classified under CWE-89: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can extract database contents — including usernames and version metadata — by sending a single crafted HTTP GET request to search.php.

Affected Products

• AiOPMSD Final 1.0.0
• AioPMSD project on SourceForge
• Deployments using the unpatched search.php endpoint

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-05-30 - CVE-2018-25413 published to NVD
• 2026-06-01 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2018-25413

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability stems from improper neutralization of user-supplied input in the search functionality of AiOPMSD Final 1.0.0. The search.php script accepts a q parameter via HTTP GET and concatenates its value directly into an SQL query. Because no parameterized statements or input validation are applied, attackers control the structure of the executed query.

An attacker can supply UNION-based payloads to exfiltrate data from arbitrary tables. Common payloads target MySQL information functions such as user(), database(), and version(), then enumerate information_schema.tables to map the schema. Stored user records can subsequently be extracted, exposing credentials reused across other services.

No authentication is required, and the attack succeeds over the network with low complexity. Public exploitation details are documented in Exploit-DB entry 45690 and the VulnCheck advisory.

Root Cause

The root cause is direct interpolation of the q query-string parameter into a dynamically constructed SQL statement. The application does not use prepared statements, does not enforce a strict type or character allowlist, and does not apply context-aware escaping. This pattern matches [CWE-89] precisely.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires only a network-reachable instance of AiOPMSD and the ability to issue HTTP GET requests. An attacker sends a request such as GET /search.php?q=<payload> where <payload> contains SQL syntax that terminates the original query and appends attacker-controlled clauses. Refer to the public Exploit-DB proof of concept for the full request structure and example UNION SELECT payloads.

Detection Methods for CVE-2018-25413

Indicators of Compromise

• HTTP GET requests to /search.php containing SQL keywords such as UNION, SELECT, information_schema, or encoded variants in the q parameter.
• Web server access logs showing q= values with single quotes, comment markers (--, #), or hex-encoded payloads.
• Database error messages referencing syntax errors originating from search.php request handling.
• Outbound responses with unusually large payloads from search.php indicating data exfiltration.

Detection Strategies

• Deploy web application firewall (WAF) signatures that flag SQL metacharacters in the q parameter against /search.php.
• Correlate web access logs with database query logs to identify abnormal query patterns sourced from search requests.
• Apply [CWE-89] detection rules in static analysis tooling against the AiOPMSD codebase to confirm unsafe string concatenation in search.php.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose access logging on the web server and retain logs long enough to support retrospective hunts.
• Alert on repeated 500-series responses from search.php, which often accompany SQL injection probing.
• Monitor for sudden spikes in row counts returned by the search endpoint relative to historical baselines.

How to Mitigate CVE-2018-25413

Immediate Actions Required

• Remove or restrict public access to AiOPMSD Final 1.0.0 instances until a patched build is available.
• Place the application behind a WAF configured to block SQL injection patterns targeting the q parameter.
• Audit database accounts used by AiOPMSD and rotate any credentials that may have been exposed through prior exploitation attempts.

Patch Information

No official vendor patch is referenced in the NVD entry for CVE-2018-25413. The AiOPMSD project distribution remains available on SourceForge, but downstream users should review the codebase and apply parameterized query fixes to search.php before redeploying. Consult the VulnCheck advisory for additional remediation context.

Workarounds

• Replace dynamic SQL construction in search.php with prepared statements using PDO or mysqli parameter binding.
• Enforce strict input validation on the q parameter, allowing only expected character classes and bounded length.
• Run the database account used by AiOPMSD with least-privilege permissions to limit the blast radius of any successful injection.
• Disable the search functionality entirely if it is not required for operational use.

# Example WAF rule (ModSecurity) to block SQLi patterns in the q parameter
SecRule ARGS:q "@rx (?i)(union(\s|/\*.*\*/)+select|information_schema|--|;|/\*)" \
    "id:1002518,phase:2,deny,status:403,msg:'Possible SQLi in q parameter (CVE-2018-25413)'"