CVE-2024-2534: Event Hall Reservation System SQLi Flaw

CVE-2024-2534 Overview

A critical SQL injection vulnerability was discovered in MAGESH-K21 Online-College-Event-Hall-Reservation-System version 1.0. The vulnerability exists in the /admin/users.php file where improper handling of the user_id parameter allows attackers to inject malicious SQL queries. This flaw enables remote attackers to manipulate database queries without requiring authentication, potentially leading to unauthorized data access, data modification, or complete database compromise.

Critical Impact

This unauthenticated SQL injection vulnerability allows remote attackers to extract sensitive data, modify database contents, or potentially achieve remote code execution through database features, affecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the entire application.

Affected Products

• MAGESH-K21 Online-College-Event-Hall-Reservation-System 1.0

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-03-17 - CVE-2024-2534 published to NVD
• 2025-03-03 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-2534

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as CWE-89 (SQL Injection), a well-documented class of security flaws where user-controlled input is incorporated into SQL queries without proper sanitization or parameterization. In this case, the /admin/users.php endpoint accepts a user_id parameter that is directly concatenated into database queries, allowing attackers to inject arbitrary SQL commands.

The exploit has been publicly disclosed, and a proof-of-concept is available in security research repositories. The vendor was contacted regarding this vulnerability but did not respond, leaving no official patch available. Organizations using this software should treat this as a high-priority security issue requiring immediate attention.

Root Cause

The root cause is insufficient input validation and the use of dynamic SQL query construction. The user_id parameter in /admin/users.php is not properly sanitized before being used in database queries. Instead of using parameterized queries or prepared statements, the application directly interpolates user input into SQL statements, creating a classic SQL injection vector.

Attack Vector

The vulnerability can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring authentication or user interaction. An attacker can craft malicious HTTP requests to the /admin/users.php endpoint with specially crafted user_id values containing SQL metacharacters and statements.

By manipulating the user_id parameter, attackers can execute arbitrary SQL commands including:

• Extracting sensitive data from the database using UNION-based or error-based injection techniques
• Bypassing authentication mechanisms
• Modifying or deleting database records
• Potentially executing operating system commands if database features like xp_cmdshell (SQL Server) or INTO OUTFILE (MySQL) are available

Technical details and proof-of-concept information can be found in the GitHub PoC repository and the VulDB analysis.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-2534

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual or malformed requests to /admin/users.php containing SQL metacharacters such as single quotes, double dashes, or UNION keywords in the user_id parameter
• Database error messages in application logs indicating SQL syntax errors or unexpected query behavior
• Unexpected database queries in database logs, particularly those containing multiple statements or unusual SELECT patterns
• Evidence of data exfiltration or unauthorized database access in audit logs

Detection Strategies

• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block SQL injection patterns in HTTP requests targeting /admin/users.php
• Configure database activity monitoring to alert on anomalous query patterns, including UNION-based queries and time-based blind injection attempts
• Deploy intrusion detection system (IDS) signatures to identify common SQL injection payloads in network traffic
• Enable verbose logging on the web application to capture all requests to admin endpoints for forensic analysis

Monitoring Recommendations

• Monitor HTTP access logs for suspicious patterns in requests to /admin/users.php, particularly those with encoded characters or unusually long user_id values
• Set up alerts for database errors that may indicate injection attempts, such as syntax errors or constraint violations
• Review database query logs regularly for evidence of injection attacks or unauthorized data access
• Implement real-time alerting for any administrative endpoint access from unexpected IP addresses or geographic locations

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-2534

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict access to the /admin/users.php endpoint using network-level controls, limiting access to trusted IP addresses only
• Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with SQL injection protection rules in front of the application
• Consider taking the vulnerable application offline until proper mitigations are in place, especially if it handles sensitive data
• Implement input validation at the application gateway or reverse proxy level to filter malicious characters from the user_id parameter

Patch Information

No official vendor patch is available. The vendor (MAGESH-K21) was contacted regarding this disclosure but did not respond. Organizations should implement compensating controls or consider migrating to an alternative, actively maintained event hall reservation system. For additional technical details and vulnerability tracking, refer to the VulDB entry #256971.

Workarounds

• Implement strict input validation on the user_id parameter, allowing only numeric values if applicable
• Use a reverse proxy or WAF to filter and sanitize all incoming requests to the vulnerable endpoint
• Restrict database user privileges to minimum required permissions, preventing destructive operations even if injection succeeds
• If source code access is available, modify the application to use parameterized queries or prepared statements instead of dynamic SQL concatenation
• Implement network segmentation to limit the blast radius if the application is compromised

# Example WAF rule for ModSecurity to block SQL injection attempts
SecRule ARGS:user_id "@detectSQLi" \
    "id:1001,\
    phase:2,\
    deny,\
    status:403,\
    log,\
    msg:'SQL Injection Attempt Blocked on user_id parameter'"