CVE-2024-8169: Online Quiz Site SQL Injection Vulnerability

CVE-2024-8169 Overview

A critical SQL Injection vulnerability has been identified in Fabian Online Quiz Site version 1.0. The vulnerability exists within the signupuser.php file, where the lid argument is improperly handled, allowing attackers to inject malicious SQL commands. This flaw can be exploited remotely without authentication, enabling unauthorized access to database contents, data manipulation, and potential compromise of the underlying system.

Critical Impact

Remote attackers can exploit this SQL Injection vulnerability to extract sensitive data from the database, modify or delete records, and potentially gain unauthorized access to the web application and its backend systems.

Affected Products

• Fabian Online Quiz Site 1.0
• signupuser.php component

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-08-26 - CVE-2024-8169 published to NVD
• 2025-10-23 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-8169

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability represents a classic SQL Injection flaw (CWE-89) where user-supplied input through the lid parameter is incorporated directly into SQL queries without proper sanitization or parameterization. The application fails to validate, filter, or escape the input before constructing database queries, allowing attackers to alter the intended SQL logic.

The vulnerability affects the user signup functionality, which is typically an unauthenticated endpoint, making it accessible to any remote attacker. Successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized data disclosure, modification of database records, authentication bypass, or in some configurations, command execution on the database server.

Root Cause

The root cause is insufficient input validation and the use of unsafe SQL query construction practices. The lid parameter value is concatenated directly into SQL statements rather than being properly parameterized using prepared statements or stored procedures. This lack of proper input sanitization allows specially crafted input to break out of the intended query context and execute arbitrary SQL commands.

Attack Vector

The vulnerability is exploited via network-based attacks targeting the signupuser.php endpoint. An attacker can craft malicious HTTP requests containing SQL injection payloads in the lid parameter. Since this is a signup page, no prior authentication is required to reach the vulnerable code path.

The attack exploits improper handling of the lid argument in signupuser.php. By injecting SQL syntax into this parameter, an attacker can manipulate database queries to extract data, bypass authentication, or modify database contents. Technical details and proof-of-concept information have been publicly disclosed through the GitHub CVE Issue Discussion and VulDB Vulnerability Record #275768.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-8169

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual or malformed requests to signupuser.php containing SQL keywords such as UNION, SELECT, OR, AND, --, or '
• Web application logs showing multiple requests with the lid parameter containing special characters or SQL syntax
• Database error messages in application logs indicating SQL syntax errors
• Unexpected database queries or data access patterns originating from the web application

Detection Strategies

• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block SQL injection patterns in the lid parameter
• Monitor HTTP request logs for suspicious payloads targeting signupuser.php
• Deploy database activity monitoring to detect anomalous query patterns
• Enable verbose logging on the web server to capture request parameters for forensic analysis

Monitoring Recommendations

• Configure alerting for requests to signupuser.php containing SQL injection signatures
• Implement rate limiting on the signup endpoint to slow down automated exploitation attempts
• Review database audit logs for unauthorized data access or modification
• Monitor for new user accounts created through unusual means that may indicate authentication bypass

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-8169

Immediate Actions Required

• Remove or disable the signupuser.php file if the signup functionality is not critical to operations
• Implement input validation to reject any lid parameter values containing SQL metacharacters
• Deploy a Web Application Firewall with SQL injection detection rules in front of the application
• Review web server access logs for evidence of prior exploitation attempts

Patch Information

At the time of publication, no official patch has been released by the vendor. Organizations using Fabian Online Quiz Site 1.0 should implement the workarounds listed below and monitor the Code Projects Resource for security updates. Given that this is a code-projects application, organizations may need to implement their own fixes using prepared statements and parameterized queries.

Workarounds

• Refactor the vulnerable code to use prepared statements with parameterized queries instead of string concatenation
• Implement strict input validation on the lid parameter, allowing only expected characters (alphanumeric if applicable)
• Deploy a WAF rule specifically blocking SQL injection attempts on the signupuser.php endpoint
• Consider migrating to a more actively maintained quiz platform if no official fix becomes available

# Example WAF rule for ModSecurity to block SQL injection attempts
SecRule ARGS:lid "@detectSQLi" \
    "id:100001,\
    phase:2,\
    deny,\
    status:403,\
    log,\
    msg:'SQL Injection attempt detected in lid parameter - CVE-2024-8169',\
    severity:'CRITICAL'"