CVE-2024-7838: Online Food Ordering System SQLi Flaw

CVE-2024-7838 Overview

A critical SQL injection vulnerability has been discovered in itsourcecode Online Food Ordering System version 1.0. The vulnerability exists in the /addcategory.php file, where the cname parameter is not properly sanitized before being used in database queries. This flaw allows remote attackers to inject malicious SQL statements, potentially leading to unauthorized data access, modification, or deletion.

Critical Impact

Remote attackers can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability to manipulate database queries, potentially extracting sensitive customer data, modifying order records, or gaining unauthorized administrative access to the food ordering system.

Affected Products

• Kevinwong Online Food Ordering System version 1.0
• itsourcecode Online Food Ordering System 1.0

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-08-15 - CVE-2024-7838 published to NVD
• 2024-08-20 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-7838

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL injection vulnerability affects the category management functionality of the Online Food Ordering System. The vulnerable endpoint /addcategory.php accepts user input through the cname parameter without proper input validation or parameterized queries. When an attacker supplies specially crafted input containing SQL syntax, the application incorporates this malicious content directly into database queries, allowing the attacker to alter the query's intended logic.

The exploit has been publicly disclosed, increasing the risk of widespread exploitation against vulnerable installations. Since the attack can be launched remotely over the network without requiring any authentication or user interaction, the barrier to exploitation is extremely low.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is the direct concatenation of user-supplied input into SQL queries without proper sanitization or the use of prepared statements. The cname parameter in /addcategory.php is passed directly to the database layer, allowing attackers to break out of the intended query context and execute arbitrary SQL commands. This is a classic CWE-89 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command) vulnerability pattern.

Attack Vector

The vulnerability is exploitable over the network (AV:N) with low attack complexity. An attacker can craft malicious HTTP requests to the /addcategory.php endpoint, injecting SQL payloads through the cname parameter. Since no authentication is required and no user interaction is needed, this can be exploited by any remote attacker with network access to the application.

The attack flow involves sending a POST or GET request to the vulnerable endpoint with SQL injection payloads embedded in the cname parameter. Common techniques include UNION-based injection to extract data from other tables, boolean-based blind injection to enumerate the database structure, and time-based blind injection when direct output is not visible.

For detailed technical information about this vulnerability, refer to the GitHub Issue Discussion and VulDB entry #274742.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-7838

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual SQL error messages in application logs from /addcategory.php
• HTTP requests to /addcategory.php containing SQL keywords such as UNION, SELECT, INSERT, or comment sequences (--, /*)
• Database query logs showing abnormal queries with unexpected syntax or payloads
• Unexplained changes to category data or database records

Detection Strategies

• Deploy Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block SQL injection patterns targeting the cname parameter
• Implement application-level logging to capture all requests to /addcategory.php for forensic analysis
• Configure intrusion detection systems (IDS) to alert on SQL injection signature patterns in HTTP traffic
• Monitor database query logs for anomalous queries originating from the web application

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed logging on the web server for the /addcategory.php endpoint
• Set up alerts for repeated failed database queries that may indicate injection attempts
• Monitor for unusual database access patterns, such as bulk data extraction or schema enumeration
• Review access logs for requests containing encoded SQL injection payloads

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-7838

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict access to /addcategory.php to trusted administrators only until a patch is applied
• Implement input validation to reject requests containing SQL special characters in the cname parameter
• Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with SQL injection protection rules
• Review database user permissions to limit the impact of potential exploitation
• Consider taking the vulnerable application offline if it processes sensitive customer data

Patch Information

No official vendor patch has been released for this vulnerability at the time of publication. Organizations using the itsourcecode Online Food Ordering System should contact the vendor for patch availability or consider implementing the workarounds described below. Monitor the VulDB entry for updates on patch releases.

Workarounds

• Modify the source code in /addcategory.php to use prepared statements with parameterized queries instead of string concatenation
• Implement server-side input validation to sanitize the cname parameter, rejecting any input containing SQL metacharacters
• Apply the principle of least privilege to the database user account used by the application
• Use a WAF or reverse proxy to filter malicious SQL injection payloads before they reach the application
• Restrict network access to the application to trusted IP ranges only

# Example: Apache ModSecurity rule to block SQL injection attempts
SecRule ARGS:cname "@detectSQLi" \
    "id:100001,\
    phase:2,\
    deny,\
    status:403,\
    log,\
    msg:'SQL Injection attempt blocked in cname parameter'"