CVE-2024-2077: Simple Online Bidding System SQLi Flaw

CVE-2024-2077 Overview

A critical SQL injection vulnerability has been discovered in SourceCodester Simple Online Bidding System version 1.0. The vulnerability exists in the index.php file, where the category_id parameter is not properly sanitized before being used in SQL queries. This allows remote attackers to inject malicious SQL commands, potentially leading to unauthorized database access, data exfiltration, modification, or deletion of sensitive information.

Critical Impact

This SQL injection vulnerability allows unauthenticated remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands on the database server, potentially compromising the entire application's data integrity and confidentiality.

Affected Products

• SourceCodester Simple Online Bidding System 1.0
• oretnom23 simple_online_bidding_system 1.0

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-03-01 - CVE-2024-2077 published to NVD
• 2024-12-09 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-2077

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability stems from improper input validation in the index.php file of the Simple Online Bidding System application. The category_id parameter accepts user-supplied input that is directly incorporated into SQL queries without adequate sanitization or parameterization. This classic SQL injection flaw allows attackers to manipulate database queries by injecting malicious SQL code through the vulnerable parameter.

The vulnerability is remotely exploitable without authentication, meaning any attacker with network access to the application can attempt exploitation. Successful exploitation could grant attackers full read and write access to the backend database, enabling them to extract sensitive user information, modify auction data, or even escalate their privileges within the application.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2024-2077 is the absence of prepared statements or parameterized queries when handling the category_id input parameter. The application directly concatenates user-supplied data into SQL query strings, violating fundamental secure coding practices for database interactions. This lack of input validation and sanitization allows specially crafted input to break out of the intended query structure and execute arbitrary SQL commands.

Attack Vector

The attack is conducted remotely over the network by sending malicious HTTP requests to the index.php endpoint with a crafted category_id parameter value. An attacker does not require any authentication or user interaction to exploit this vulnerability. The attack can be executed using standard web browsers, command-line tools like curl, or automated SQL injection tools such as sqlmap.

By manipulating the category_id parameter with SQL injection payloads, an attacker can perform various malicious actions including: extracting database contents using UNION-based injection, bypassing authentication mechanisms, modifying or deleting database records, and in some configurations, potentially executing operating system commands through database functions.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-2077

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual SQL error messages appearing in application logs or responses containing database structure information
• HTTP request logs showing suspicious characters in category_id parameter such as single quotes, double dashes, UNION keywords, or encoded SQL syntax
• Database audit logs indicating unauthorized queries, particularly SELECT statements accessing multiple tables or system tables
• Unexpected database query patterns or high volume of failed queries originating from single IP addresses

Detection Strategies

• Deploy Web Application Firewalls (WAF) configured with SQL injection detection rules to inspect requests to index.php
• Implement intrusion detection systems (IDS) with signatures for common SQL injection patterns targeting the category_id parameter
• Enable detailed application and database logging to capture and correlate suspicious query activity
• Conduct regular vulnerability scanning of web applications using tools capable of detecting SQL injection flaws

Monitoring Recommendations

• Monitor HTTP access logs for requests containing SQL injection indicators such as ', --, UNION, SELECT, OR 1=1, and URL-encoded variants
• Set up alerts for database errors or exceptions that may indicate injection attempts
• Track and baseline normal database query patterns to identify anomalous activity that could indicate exploitation
• Review authentication logs for unusual login patterns that may result from SQL injection-based authentication bypass

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-2077

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict network access to the vulnerable application until a patch can be applied
• Implement a Web Application Firewall with rules to block SQL injection attempts targeting the category_id parameter
• Review application and database logs for evidence of prior exploitation attempts
• Consider taking the application offline if it contains sensitive data and no immediate remediation is possible

Patch Information

As of the last NVD update on 2024-12-09, no official vendor patch has been published for this vulnerability. Organizations using the Simple Online Bidding System should monitor the GitHub Vulnerability Report and VulDB for updates. Given the critical nature of this vulnerability and lack of vendor response, organizations should strongly consider migrating to alternative, actively maintained bidding system solutions.

Workarounds

• Implement input validation to allow only numeric values for the category_id parameter before processing
• Deploy a reverse proxy or WAF with SQL injection filtering capabilities in front of the application
• Modify the application source code to use prepared statements with parameterized queries for all database interactions
• Restrict database user privileges to minimum required permissions to limit potential damage from successful exploitation

# Example WAF rule for ModSecurity to block SQL injection on category_id
SecRule ARGS:category_id "@detectSQLi" \
    "id:1001,\
    phase:2,\
    block,\
    msg:'SQL Injection Attempt Detected in category_id',\
    log,\
    status:403"