CVE-2018-25416: AiOPMSD Final SQL Injection Vulnerability

CVE-2018-25416 Overview

CVE-2018-25416 is an SQL injection vulnerability [CWE-89] in AiOPMSD Final 1.0.0, an open-source project management and ticketing application distributed through SourceForge. The flaw resides in the country.php endpoint, which fails to sanitize the country GET parameter before passing it to backend database queries. Unauthenticated remote attackers can inject arbitrary SQL statements through this parameter to read sensitive data from the application database. Reported information includes database usernames, schema names, and database version strings. A public proof-of-concept exists as Exploit-DB #45690, and the issue is tracked in the VulnCheck SQL Injection Advisory.

Critical Impact
Unauthenticated attackers can extract database contents, including credentials and schema details, through a single crafted HTTP GET request to country.php.

Affected Products

AiOPMSD Final 1.0.0
The AIOPMSD Project Homepage distribution
Installations using the AIOPMSD Latest Download build

Discovery Timeline

2018 - Public exploit published as Exploit-DB #45690
2026-05-30 - CVE-2018-25416 published to NVD
2026-06-01 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2018-25416

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a classic SQL injection flaw in the country.php script shipped with AiOPMSD Final 1.0.0. The application accepts the country parameter via an HTTP GET request and concatenates the value directly into a SQL statement executed against the backend database. Because no input validation, escaping, or prepared statements are applied, an attacker controls a portion of the query syntax.

The endpoint requires no authentication, so exploitation only requires network reachability to the web application. The flaw maps to the Common Weakness Enumeration entry [CWE-89] (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command). EPSS currently rates the probability of exploitation at 0.068%, but the existence of a working public exploit lowers the practical barrier for opportunistic attackers.

Root Cause

The root cause is direct interpolation of untrusted user input into a SQL query string. The country parameter is passed without parameterized binding, type enforcement, or character filtering. As a result, characters such as single quotes, comments, and the UNION keyword are interpreted as SQL syntax by the database engine instead of being treated as literal data.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based and requires no privileges or user interaction. An attacker issues an HTTP GET request to the country.php endpoint with a crafted payload in the country parameter. Typical payloads use UNION SELECT clauses to append attacker-controlled result sets that disclose values such as user(), database(), and version() from the underlying database server. With sufficient probing, the same vector supports enumeration of arbitrary tables and columns accessible to the application database account.

No verified sanitized exploit code is included here. Refer to Exploit-DB #45690 and the VulnCheck SQL Injection Advisory for the published proof-of-concept.

Detection Methods for CVE-2018-25416

Indicators of Compromise

HTTP GET requests to country.php containing SQL metacharacters such as ', --, /*, or keywords like UNION, SELECT, SLEEP, or BENCHMARK in the country parameter.
Web server access logs showing abnormally long country parameter values or URL-encoded SQL syntax (%27, %20UNION%20, %23).
Database error messages referencing syntax errors originating from queries issued by the AiOPMSD application user.
Unexpected database queries reading from information_schema, mysql.user, or system catalog tables outside normal application behavior.

Detection Strategies

Deploy a web application firewall rule set, such as the OWASP Core Rule Set, with SQL injection signatures applied to query string parameters on country.php.
Enable database query logging and alert on queries containing UNION SELECT, information_schema, or boolean tautologies (OR 1=1) issued by the AiOPMSD application account.
Correlate web access logs with database audit logs to identify single client IPs generating both anomalous URL parameters and unusual SQL queries.

Monitoring Recommendations

Monitor outbound responses from country.php for unusual response sizes or content that may indicate data exfiltration via UNION-based extraction.
Track repeated 500-class HTTP errors from country.php, which often accompany blind or error-based SQL injection probing.
Alert on database accounts issuing schema discovery queries against information_schema.tables or information_schema.columns from the application user.

How to Mitigate CVE-2018-25416

Immediate Actions Required

Restrict network access to the AiOPMSD application by IP allowlist or VPN until a remediated build is deployed.
Take the country.php endpoint offline if it is not required for business operations.
Rotate database credentials used by the AiOPMSD application and review database audit logs for prior data exfiltration.
Reduce the privileges of the application database account to the minimum required, removing FILE and administrative grants.

Patch Information

No official vendor patch is referenced in the available advisories for AiOPMSD Final 1.0.0. The AIOPMSD Project Homepage and AIOPMSD Latest Download should be reviewed for newer releases. If no fixed version is available, operators should consider migrating to a maintained alternative or applying source-level fixes that replace concatenated SQL with parameterized prepared statements using PDO or mysqli bound parameters.

Workarounds

Front the application with a web application firewall configured to block SQL injection payloads in the country parameter.
Apply server-side input validation to enforce that the country value matches a strict allowlist, such as ISO 3166 country codes.
Refactor country.php to use parameterized queries and reject requests where country contains characters outside [A-Za-z ].
Configure the database account used by AiOPMSD with read-only privileges limited to the application schema.

bash

# Example ModSecurity rule to block SQLi attempts on the country parameter
SecRule ARGS:country "@detectSQLi" \
    "id:1002518,phase:2,deny,status:403,\
    msg:'CVE-2018-25416 SQLi attempt against country.php',\
    tag:'CWE-89'"