CVE-2018-25420: AiOPMSD Final SQL Injection Vulnerability

CVE-2018-25420 Overview

CVE-2018-25420 is a SQL injection vulnerability in AiOPMSD Final 1.0.0, an open-source PHP media streaming application distributed via SourceForge. The flaw resides in the watch.php script, which fails to sanitize the id GET parameter before passing it to the underlying SQL query. Unauthenticated attackers can craft requests that append arbitrary SQL syntax to the query, exposing database usernames, schema names, and version information. The issue is tracked under CWE-89: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated remote attackers can extract sensitive database contents from AiOPMSD Final 1.0.0 installations by sending crafted GET requests to watch.php.

Affected Products

• AiOPMSD Final 1.0.0
• AiOPMSD distributions hosted at the AioPMSD Project Homepage
• Builds obtained from the AioPMSD Latest Download

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-05-30 - CVE-2018-25420 published to NVD
• 2026-06-01 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2018-25420

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability stems from unsanitized user input flowing directly into a SQL statement in watch.php. The id parameter, supplied via the HTTP GET request, is concatenated into a database query without parameterization or input filtering. An attacker can break out of the intended query context and append additional SQL clauses such as UNION SELECT to retrieve arbitrary data from the connected database. Because the endpoint requires no authentication, exploitation requires only network reachability to the affected web server.

The VulnCheck SQL Injection Advisory and Exploit-DB #45690 document the affected endpoint and provide payload examples demonstrating retrieval of user(), database(), and version() values from the back-end MySQL instance.

Root Cause

The root cause is the absence of prepared statements or input validation around the id parameter in watch.php. The application directly interpolates request data into a SQL string, allowing attacker-controlled characters such as quotes, comments, and union operators to alter query structure.

Attack Vector

Exploitation is network-based and unauthenticated. An attacker issues a single GET request to the vulnerable endpoint, for example watch.php?id=<payload>, where <payload> contains SQL syntax such as a UNION SELECT clause referencing built-in MySQL functions. The response reflects query results, enabling enumeration of database metadata and exfiltration of records from any table accessible to the application's database user.

No verified exploit code is reproduced here. See the Exploit-DB #45690 entry for the published proof of concept.

Detection Methods for CVE-2018-25420

Indicators of Compromise

• HTTP GET requests to watch.php containing SQL keywords such as UNION, SELECT, information_schema, or -- in the id parameter.
• Web server access logs showing repeated requests to watch.php with progressively longer or URL-encoded id values consistent with automated SQL injection tooling.
• Outbound database errors or unusually large response bodies returned from watch.php requests.

Detection Strategies

• Inspect web access logs for id parameter values containing SQL meta-characters (', ", ;, --, %27) directed at watch.php.
• Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule set such as the OWASP Core Rule Set to flag SQLi signatures targeting AiOPMSD endpoints.
• Correlate web request anomalies with database audit logs to identify queries referencing user(), database(), or @@version originating from the application account.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose query logging on the MySQL instance backing AiOPMSD to capture injected statements.
• Forward web server and database logs to a centralized SIEM with detection rules tuned for CWE-89 patterns.
• Alert on response size spikes and HTTP 500 errors from watch.php, which often accompany failed injection attempts.

How to Mitigate CVE-2018-25420

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict public access to AiOPMSD Final 1.0.0 deployments until remediation is in place, ideally placing the application behind authenticated reverse proxy controls.
• Deploy WAF signatures that block SQL injection payloads targeting the id parameter of watch.php.
• Audit the database account used by AiOPMSD and reduce its privileges to the minimum required for application operation.

Patch Information

No official vendor patch is listed in the NVD record for CVE-2018-25420. Administrators should review the AioPMSD Project Homepage for any updated releases and consider migrating to an actively maintained media platform if no fix is available.

Workarounds

• Modify watch.php to use parameterized queries or PDO prepared statements when handling the id value.
• Validate that the id parameter contains only expected characters, such as numeric digits, before passing it to the database layer.
• Block external access to watch.php via web server rewrite rules or network ACLs where the endpoint is not required.

# Example ModSecurity rule to block SQLi attempts against watch.php
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@contains /watch.php" \
    "id:1002518,phase:2,deny,status:403,log,\
    chain,msg:'CVE-2018-25420 AiOPMSD SQLi attempt'"
    SecRule ARGS:id "@detectSQLi" "t:none,t:urlDecodeUni"