CVE-2024-0268: Hospital Management System SQLi Vulnerability

CVE-2024-0268 Overview

A critical SQL injection vulnerability has been discovered in Kashipara Hospital Management System up to version 1.0. The vulnerability exists in the registration.php file and can be exploited through manipulation of multiple user-supplied parameters including name, email, pass, gender, age, and city fields. This flaw allows unauthenticated remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands against the underlying database, potentially leading to complete compromise of sensitive patient data and healthcare records.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can remotely exploit this SQL injection vulnerability to access, modify, or delete sensitive healthcare data, potentially compromising patient privacy and medical records integrity.

Affected Products

• Kashipara Hospital Management System version 1.0 and earlier
• Surajghosh Hospital Management System (all versions up to 1.0)

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-01-07 - CVE-2024-0268 published to NVD
• 2024-11-21 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-0268

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL injection vulnerability exists in the user registration functionality of the Kashipara Hospital Management System. The registration.php file fails to properly sanitize or parameterize user input before incorporating it into SQL queries. When user-supplied data from form fields (name, email, pass, gender, age, city) is processed, the application directly concatenates these values into database queries without proper escaping or the use of prepared statements.

The vulnerability is particularly severe because it affects the registration endpoint, which is typically accessible without authentication. This means any remote attacker with network access to the application can exploit this flaw without needing valid credentials. The vulnerability can lead to unauthorized data access, data manipulation, authentication bypass, and in some configurations, potential command execution on the underlying database server.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2024-0268 is improper input validation and the lack of parameterized queries (prepared statements) in the registration.php file. The application directly embeds user-controlled input into SQL statements, violating secure coding practices. This classic CWE-89 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command) vulnerability occurs when developers fail to treat user input as untrusted data.

Attack Vector

The attack can be launched remotely over the network without requiring any authentication or user interaction. An attacker can craft malicious input containing SQL syntax and submit it through the registration form fields. By injecting specially crafted SQL payloads into parameters such as name, email, pass, gender, age, or city, the attacker can modify the intended SQL query logic to extract sensitive information, bypass authentication mechanisms, modify database contents, or potentially execute administrative operations on the database server.

The vulnerability has been publicly disclosed, with exploit details available in the GitHub Vulnerability Report. The network-based attack vector with no required privileges or user interaction makes this vulnerability particularly dangerous for exposed healthcare systems.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-0268

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual SQL error messages appearing in web application logs or responses from registration.php
• Database logs showing abnormal query patterns or syntax errors originating from the registration endpoint
• Unexpected data modifications or new administrative accounts in the hospital management system
• Network traffic containing SQL keywords (UNION, SELECT, DROP, INSERT) in POST parameters to registration.php

Detection Strategies

• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect SQL injection patterns in HTTP POST requests to registration endpoints
• Monitor database query logs for anomalous queries containing UNION-based or error-based SQL injection signatures
• Deploy intrusion detection systems (IDS) with SQL injection detection rulesets targeting healthcare application traffic
• Review application access logs for repeated failed registration attempts or unusual parameter lengths

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose logging on the database server to capture all queries executed against patient data tables
• Configure real-time alerting for any SQL syntax errors generated by the hospital management application
• Implement database activity monitoring (DAM) to track access to sensitive tables containing patient information
• Set up network monitoring for outbound data exfiltration attempts following potential SQL injection exploitation

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-0268

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict network access to the hospital management system to authorized IP ranges only
• Place the application behind a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with SQL injection protection enabled
• If possible, temporarily disable the registration functionality until a patch is applied
• Audit database logs and user tables for signs of compromise or unauthorized access

Patch Information

As of the last update, no official vendor patch has been released for this vulnerability. Organizations using Kashipara Hospital Management System should contact the vendor directly for remediation guidance. The vulnerability details have been documented in VulDB #249824 and the GitHub Vulnerability Report for reference.

Workarounds

• Implement input validation at the application layer to reject SQL metacharacters in form fields
• Deploy a reverse proxy or WAF with strict SQL injection filtering rules for the registration.php endpoint
• Apply database user privilege restrictions to limit the application's database account to only necessary operations
• Consider migrating to a more actively maintained hospital management system with secure coding practices

# Example WAF rule configuration for ModSecurity
# Block SQL injection attempts on registration endpoint
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@contains registration.php" \
    "id:100001,phase:2,deny,status:403,\
    chain"
SecRule ARGS "@rx (?i)(union|select|insert|update|delete|drop|;|'|--)" \
    "t:none,t:urlDecodeUni,t:htmlEntityDecode,\
    msg:'SQL Injection attempt blocked on registration.php'"