CVE-2024-7636: Simple Ticket Booking SQLi Vulnerability

CVE-2024-7636 Overview

A critical SQL Injection vulnerability has been identified in code-projects Simple Ticket Booking version 1.0. This vulnerability exists in the authenticate.php file within the Login component, where improper sanitization of the email and password parameters allows attackers to inject malicious SQL queries. The vulnerability can be exploited remotely without authentication, potentially leading to unauthorized database access, data exfiltration, or complete system compromise.

Critical Impact

Remote unauthenticated attackers can exploit this SQL Injection vulnerability to bypass authentication, extract sensitive data from the database, modify or delete records, and potentially achieve further system access depending on database configuration.

Affected Products

• code-projects Simple Ticket Booking 1.0

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-08-12 - CVE-2024-7636 published to NVD
• 2024-08-15 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-7636

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL Injection vulnerability (CWE-89) resides in the authentication mechanism of Simple Ticket Booking. The authenticate.php file processes user-supplied input from the login form without proper validation or parameterization. When users submit their credentials via the email and password fields, these values are directly concatenated into SQL queries, creating an injection point that attackers can exploit.

The vulnerability allows network-based attacks with low complexity, requiring no prior authentication or user interaction. Successful exploitation can result in confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts to the underlying database system.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is the failure to implement secure coding practices for database interactions. The application directly incorporates user input into SQL statements without using parameterized queries or prepared statements. This lack of input sanitization and the absence of proper escaping mechanisms allow malicious SQL syntax to be interpreted as part of the query structure rather than as data.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based, targeting the login functionality exposed through authenticate.php. An attacker can craft malicious input containing SQL metacharacters and commands within the email or password form fields. When the application processes these inputs, the injected SQL commands are executed against the database.

Typical attack scenarios include:

• Authentication Bypass: Injecting conditions that always evaluate to true (e.g., ' OR '1'='1) to bypass login validation
• Data Extraction: Using UNION-based or blind SQL injection techniques to extract sensitive information from the database
• Database Manipulation: Inserting, updating, or deleting records depending on database permissions

The exploit has been publicly disclosed, increasing the risk of active exploitation. For technical details, refer to the GitHub CVE Issue #1 and VulDB #274057.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-7636

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual SQL error messages in web server logs originating from authenticate.php
• Login attempts containing SQL metacharacters such as single quotes, double dashes, or semicolons
• Database query logs showing anomalous queries or UNION SELECT statements
• Failed login attempts with unusually long input strings in email or password fields

Detection Strategies

• Deploy Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block SQL injection patterns in POST parameters targeting authentication endpoints
• Implement application-level logging to capture all authentication attempts with full request details for forensic analysis
• Configure database audit logging to detect unusual query patterns, privilege escalations, or bulk data access
• Monitor for reconnaissance activity targeting login pages with automated SQL injection testing tools

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable real-time alerting for SQL syntax errors generated by the web application
• Set up threshold-based alerts for repeated failed authentication attempts from single IP addresses
• Monitor network traffic for exfiltration patterns following authentication-related requests
• Implement integrity monitoring on database tables storing user credentials and sensitive booking data

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-7636

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict network access to the Simple Ticket Booking application until patches can be applied
• Implement a Web Application Firewall with SQL injection detection rules in front of the vulnerable application
• Review database access logs for signs of prior exploitation and data exfiltration
• Consider taking the application offline if it handles sensitive data and no mitigation is immediately available

Patch Information

No official vendor patch information is currently available for this vulnerability. Organizations using code-projects Simple Ticket Booking 1.0 should contact the vendor for remediation guidance or consider migrating to alternative solutions with better security practices. For vulnerability details, see VulDB CTI ID #274057.

Workarounds

• Implement input validation at the application layer to reject inputs containing SQL metacharacters
• Deploy a reverse proxy with ModSecurity or similar WAF configured with OWASP CRS rules for SQL injection protection
• Restrict database user privileges to minimum required permissions, removing DROP, DELETE, and administrative capabilities
• If source code access is available, modify authenticate.php to use prepared statements with parameterized queries

# Example ModSecurity rule to block SQL injection in authentication forms
SecRule ARGS "@detectSQLi" \
    "id:1001,\
    phase:2,\
    block,\
    msg:'SQL Injection Attack Detected in Authentication',\
    logdata:'Matched Data: %{MATCHED_VAR} found within %{MATCHED_VAR_NAME}',\
    severity:'CRITICAL',\
    tag:'application-multi',\
    tag:'language-multi',\
    tag:'platform-multi',\
    tag:'attack-sqli'"