CVE-2025-0527: Anisha Admission Management SQL Injection

CVE-2025-0527 Overview

A critical SQL Injection vulnerability has been identified in code-projects Admission Management System 1.0. This vulnerability exists in the /signupconfirm.php file, where improper handling of the in_eml parameter allows attackers to inject malicious SQL queries. The attack can be launched remotely without authentication, potentially enabling unauthorized access to sensitive database information, data manipulation, or complete database compromise.

Critical Impact

Remote attackers can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability to extract sensitive student and admission data, modify database records, or potentially gain further system access through database-level exploits.

Affected Products

• Anisha Admission Management System 1.0
• code-projects Admission Management System 1.0

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-01-17 - CVE-2025-0527 published to NVD
• 2025-03-03 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-0527

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL Injection vulnerability (CWE-89) occurs due to improper neutralization of special elements used in SQL commands within the signup confirmation functionality. The vulnerable endpoint /signupconfirm.php fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input in the in_eml parameter before incorporating it into SQL queries. This allows attackers to manipulate the intended SQL logic by injecting malicious payloads.

The vulnerability is classified under both CWE-89 (SQL Injection) and CWE-74 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component), indicating that user input is passed directly to the database query without adequate validation or parameterization. This is a network-accessible vulnerability requiring no authentication or user interaction, making it particularly dangerous for internet-facing deployments of this admission management system.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is the lack of proper input validation and parameterized queries in the /signupconfirm.php file. The in_eml parameter, which likely handles email input during the signup confirmation process, is concatenated directly into SQL statements without sanitization. The application fails to implement prepared statements or input escaping mechanisms, allowing attackers to break out of the intended query structure and execute arbitrary SQL commands.

Attack Vector

The attack can be executed remotely over the network. An attacker can craft malicious HTTP requests to the /signupconfirm.php endpoint with specially crafted SQL payloads in the in_eml parameter. No authentication or special privileges are required to exploit this vulnerability. The attacker can manipulate the SQL query to:

• Extract sensitive data from the database (student records, personal information, admission details)
• Bypass authentication mechanisms
• Modify or delete database records
• Potentially escalate to remote code execution depending on database configuration

The vulnerability has been publicly disclosed, with exploit details available through the GitHub Issue #4 Discussion. Additional information is available via VulDB #292411.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-0527

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual SQL error messages in application logs from /signupconfirm.php
• Unexpected database queries containing SQL keywords like UNION, SELECT, DROP, or -- in the in_eml parameter
• Access logs showing requests to /signupconfirm.php with abnormally long or encoded parameter values
• Database audit logs indicating unauthorized SELECT statements or data extraction attempts

Detection Strategies

• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect SQL injection patterns in HTTP requests targeting /signupconfirm.php
• Monitor application logs for SQL syntax errors or database connection anomalies
• Deploy intrusion detection signatures for common SQL injection payloads in the in_eml parameter
• Enable database query logging and alert on suspicious query patterns or unauthorized data access

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose logging on the web server for requests to /signupconfirm.php
• Configure real-time alerting for SQL injection attack patterns in security monitoring tools
• Implement database activity monitoring to detect unusual query execution or data exfiltration
• Review access logs regularly for reconnaissance activity targeting signup and authentication endpoints

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-0527

Immediate Actions Required

• Remove or disable the /signupconfirm.php endpoint if not critical to operations until a patch is available
• Implement input validation to restrict the in_eml parameter to valid email format only
• Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with SQL injection protection rules
• Restrict database user privileges to minimum required permissions for the application

Patch Information

At the time of this writing, no official patch has been released by the vendor for CVE-2025-0527. Organizations using Anisha Admission Management System 1.0 should contact the vendor through Code Projects for remediation guidance. In the absence of an official patch, implementing the workarounds below is strongly recommended.

Workarounds

• Implement prepared statements (parameterized queries) in the /signupconfirm.php file to properly handle user input
• Apply strict input validation using allowlist patterns for the email parameter
• Deploy network-level controls to restrict access to the application from trusted IP ranges only
• Consider implementing a reverse proxy with SQL injection filtering capabilities

The recommended remediation approach involves modifying the application code to use parameterized queries. For PHP applications, this means replacing direct string concatenation with PDO prepared statements or mysqli with bound parameters. Email validation should enforce RFC 5322 compliant email format before any database interaction occurs.