CVE-2024-2555: Employee Task Management System SQLi Flaw

CVE-2024-2555 Overview

CVE-2024-2555 is a SQL injection vulnerability in SourceCodester Employee Task Management System 1.0, developed by oretnom23. The flaw resides in the update-admin.php script, where the admin_id parameter is passed directly into a database query without proper sanitization. An authenticated remote attacker can manipulate this parameter to execute arbitrary SQL statements against the backend database. The issue is tracked as VulDB entry VDB-257054 and mapped to [CWE-89]. Public exploit details have been disclosed, increasing the likelihood of opportunistic abuse against exposed instances.

Critical Impact
Exploitation permits unauthorized read and modification of database contents, including administrator credentials, and can lead to full compromise of the application's data layer.

Affected Products

Oretnom23 Employee Task Management System 1.0
Component: update-admin.php
CPE: cpe:2.3:a:oretnom23:employee_task_management_system:1.0

Discovery Timeline

2024-03-17 - CVE-2024-2555 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-2555

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a classic SQL injection flaw [CWE-89] in the administrator update workflow of the Employee Task Management System. The update-admin.php endpoint accepts an admin_id value from the request and concatenates it into a SQL statement without parameterization or input validation. Because the query executes with the privileges of the application's database user, an attacker can extract, modify, or delete records within the application schema. The attack requires network access to the web interface and a valid high-privilege session, but no user interaction. Public disclosure of the flaw and technical writeup on GitHub lowers the barrier for weaponization by unsophisticated attackers.

Root Cause

The root cause is unsanitized concatenation of the admin_id request parameter into a raw SQL query inside update-admin.php. The application does not use prepared statements, parameterized queries, or input allow-listing, so injected SQL fragments are executed by the MySQL backend as trusted input.

Attack Vector

An attacker with authenticated administrator-level access sends a crafted HTTP request to update-admin.php containing SQL metacharacters in the admin_id parameter. The malicious payload can chain UNION-based extraction, boolean-based blind inference, or stacked queries to enumerate tables, dump credentials, and pivot to further attacks. Technical detail of the injection point is documented in the GitHub Vulnerability Report.

No verified proof-of-concept code is reproduced here. Refer to the VulDB entry #257054 for the disclosed exploitation details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-2555

Indicators of Compromise

Requests to update-admin.php containing SQL metacharacters such as single quotes, UNION, SELECT, SLEEP(, or comment sequences (--, /*) in the admin_id parameter.
Unexpected outbound database errors or MySQL syntax errors in application logs following update-admin.php access.
Anomalous administrator account modifications or new administrator entries created without corresponding legitimate workflows.

Detection Strategies

Deploy web application firewall (WAF) signatures that inspect the admin_id parameter for SQL injection patterns.
Enable MySQL general query logging on non-production instances to correlate anomalous query structures with HTTP requests to update-admin.php.
Review application access logs for repeated 500-series responses tied to the vulnerable endpoint, which often indicate injection probing.

Monitoring Recommendations

Alert on any HTTP request to update-admin.php originating from unexpected source IP ranges or outside business hours.
Monitor administrator table changes and authentication events for privilege escalation following endpoint access.
Ingest webserver and database logs into a centralized analytics platform to correlate injection attempts with downstream database activity.

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-2555

Immediate Actions Required

Restrict network exposure of the Employee Task Management System to trusted internal networks or VPN-only access until a patch is applied.
Rotate all administrator credentials and database service account passwords, assuming potential prior compromise.
Audit the admin table and application audit logs for unauthorized modifications or newly created accounts.

Patch Information

No official vendor patch has been published for CVE-2024-2555 at the time of NVD listing. Consult the vendor's SourceCodester project page for any subsequent updates, and refer to the VulDB CTI entry #257054 for tracking status.

Workarounds

Modify update-admin.php to use PHP Data Objects (PDO) or mysqli prepared statements with bound parameters for admin_id.
Enforce server-side type validation to ensure admin_id is a strictly numeric integer before it reaches any query.
Deploy a WAF rule set (for example, OWASP ModSecurity CRS) in blocking mode in front of the application to filter SQL injection payloads.
Apply least-privilege on the MySQL account used by the application, removing FILE, DROP, and administrative grants.

bash

# Example ModSecurity rule to block SQLi patterns in admin_id
SecRule ARGS:admin_id "@rx (?i)(union(.*?)select|sleep\(|--|/\*|;)" \
    "id:1002555,phase:2,deny,status:403,\
    msg:'CVE-2024-2555 SQLi attempt on update-admin.php',\
    logdata:'Matched admin_id=%{MATCHED_VAR}'"