CVE-2024-7798: Simple Online Bidding System SQLi Flaw

CVE-2024-7798 Overview

A critical SQL injection vulnerability has been identified in SourceCodester Simple Online Bidding System version 1.0. This vulnerability exists in the authentication mechanism within the file /simple-online-bidding-system/bidding/admin/ajax.php?action=login2, where the username parameter is not properly sanitized before being used in SQL queries. This allows remote attackers to manipulate database queries, potentially bypassing authentication and accessing or modifying sensitive data.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability remotely to bypass authentication, extract sensitive database contents, or potentially execute administrative operations on the bidding system.

Affected Products

• SourceCodester Simple Online Bidding System 1.0
• Applications utilizing the oretnom23 Simple Online Bidding System codebase
• Web servers hosting the vulnerable /simple-online-bidding-system/bidding/admin/ajax.php endpoint

Discovery Timeline

• August 15, 2024 - CVE-2024-7798 published to NVD
• August 19, 2024 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-7798

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL injection vulnerability (CWE-89) affects the administrative login functionality of the Simple Online Bidding System. The vulnerable endpoint at /simple-online-bidding-system/bidding/admin/ajax.php?action=login2 processes user-supplied input through the username parameter without proper sanitization or parameterized queries.

When a user submits login credentials, the application directly concatenates the username value into SQL queries, creating an injection point. This allows attackers to craft malicious input that alters the SQL query logic, enabling authentication bypass, data extraction, or other database manipulation attacks.

The exploit has been publicly disclosed, increasing the risk of opportunistic attacks against systems running this software. Organizations using this bidding system should treat this as a high-priority issue requiring immediate attention.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is improper input validation and the use of dynamic SQL queries without parameterization. The application fails to sanitize the username parameter before incorporating it into database queries, violating secure coding practices for handling user input in SQL statements.

PHP applications commonly fall victim to this type of vulnerability when developers use string concatenation to build SQL queries instead of prepared statements with parameter binding. The lack of input validation allows special SQL characters and syntax to be interpreted as part of the query structure rather than as literal data.

Attack Vector

The attack can be launched remotely over the network without requiring authentication or user interaction. An attacker can submit specially crafted payloads through the username field of the login form to manipulate the underlying SQL query.

Typical attack scenarios include:

• Authentication Bypass: Using payloads like ' OR '1'='1 to bypass login validation
• Data Extraction: Employing UNION-based or blind SQL injection techniques to extract database contents
• Privilege Escalation: Accessing administrator accounts or modifying user privileges within the database

The vulnerability can be exploited using standard SQL injection tools or manual techniques. Additional technical details are available in the GitHub PoC Repository.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-7798

Indicators of Compromise

• HTTP POST requests to /simple-online-bidding-system/bidding/admin/ajax.php?action=login2 containing SQL injection patterns in the username parameter
• Unusual database errors or verbose error messages in application logs indicating query manipulation
• Authentication logs showing successful logins for non-existent or unexpected administrative accounts
• Database query logs containing UNION SELECT statements, comment sequences (--), or multiple OR conditions

Detection Strategies

• Deploy Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block common SQL injection patterns in HTTP POST parameters
• Implement application-level logging to capture all authentication attempts with full request details for forensic analysis
• Configure database audit logging to monitor for anomalous query patterns, especially those containing UNION, OR, and comment operators
• Use SentinelOne Singularity to detect post-exploitation behaviors such as unauthorized data access or lateral movement following successful injection attacks

Monitoring Recommendations

• Monitor web server access logs for repeated requests to the vulnerable endpoint with varying payloads
• Set up alerts for database errors related to SQL syntax that may indicate injection attempts
• Track authentication events for patterns suggesting brute-force or injection-based bypass attempts
• Review network traffic for large data transfers that could indicate successful data exfiltration

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-7798

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict access to the /simple-online-bidding-system/bidding/admin/ directory using network-level controls or .htaccess rules
• Implement Web Application Firewall rules to filter SQL injection attempts targeting the login endpoint
• Consider taking the bidding system offline until proper remediation can be applied
• Audit database access logs for evidence of prior exploitation and unauthorized data access

Patch Information

No official vendor patch has been released for this vulnerability at the time of this publication. Organizations should monitor the VulDB entry and vendor resources for updates regarding a security fix.

In the absence of an official patch, organizations must implement compensating controls or consider migrating to a more secure bidding platform that receives active security maintenance.

Workarounds

• Implement prepared statements with parameterized queries for all database interactions in the affected PHP files
• Add server-side input validation to reject special characters and SQL keywords in the username field
• Deploy network segmentation to limit access to the administrative interface from trusted IP ranges only
• Use a reverse proxy or WAF with SQL injection detection rules in blocking mode

# Example Apache .htaccess restriction for admin directory
<Directory "/var/www/html/simple-online-bidding-system/bidding/admin">
    Order Deny,Allow
    Deny from all
    Allow from 192.168.1.0/24
    Allow from 10.0.0.0/8
</Directory>