CVE-2025-10834: Job Portal SQL Injection Vulnerability

CVE-2025-10834 Overview

A SQL injection vulnerability has been identified in itsourcecode Open Source Job Portal version 1.0. The vulnerability affects the admin login functionality located at /jobportal/admin/login.php, where improper handling of the user_email parameter allows attackers to inject malicious SQL statements. This vulnerability can be exploited remotely without authentication, and exploit code has been publicly disclosed.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability to bypass authentication, extract sensitive data from the database, or potentially manipulate database contents through the admin login page.

Affected Products

• Angeljudesuarez Open Source Job Portal 1.0
• itsourcecode Open Source Job Portal 1.0

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-09-23 - CVE-2025-10834 published to NVD
• 2025-09-25 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-10834

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL injection vulnerability occurs in the admin login functionality of the Open Source Job Portal application. The user_email argument passed to /jobportal/admin/login.php is not properly sanitized before being incorporated into SQL queries. This allows attackers to manipulate the query logic by injecting malicious SQL statements through the login form.

The vulnerability is classified under CWE-74 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component), which encompasses injection flaws where user-controlled input is not properly validated before being processed by an interpreter. In this case, the PHP application fails to implement parameterized queries or proper input validation for the email field during authentication.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is the lack of proper input sanitization and the use of unsanitized user input directly in SQL query construction. The user_email parameter is concatenated directly into SQL statements without implementing prepared statements or escaping special characters, allowing attackers to break out of the intended query structure.

Attack Vector

This vulnerability is exploitable over the network without requiring any authentication or user interaction. An attacker can craft a malicious HTTP request to the admin login endpoint (/jobportal/admin/login.php) containing SQL injection payloads in the user_email parameter. The attack can be used to:

• Bypass authentication controls to gain administrative access
• Extract sensitive information from the database including user credentials
• Modify or delete database records
• Potentially escalate to further attacks depending on database privileges

The vulnerability exists in the login form's email field, making it easily accessible to any remote attacker who can reach the admin login page. Technical details and proof-of-concept information are available in the GitHub Issue Discussion.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-10834

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual SQL error messages in application logs from the /jobportal/admin/login.php endpoint
• Multiple failed login attempts with suspicious payloads containing SQL syntax characters such as single quotes, double dashes, or UNION SELECT statements
• Successful admin login events from unexpected IP addresses or without corresponding valid authentication attempts
• Database query logs showing abnormal queries originating from the login functionality

Detection Strategies

• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block common SQL injection patterns in the user_email parameter
• Monitor HTTP request logs for suspicious patterns targeting /jobportal/admin/login.php including SQL keywords and special characters
• Configure intrusion detection systems (IDS) with signatures for SQL injection attack patterns
• Enable database query logging and alert on queries containing unexpected UNION, SELECT, or comment syntax from the login module

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose logging for the admin login functionality and monitor for anomalous patterns
• Set up alerting for any SQL errors or exceptions generated by the authentication process
• Monitor for successful admin panel access following suspicious login attempts
• Track and alert on any database queries that deviate from expected patterns in the authentication workflow

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-10834

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict access to the admin login page (/jobportal/admin/login.php) to trusted IP addresses only using firewall rules or web server configuration
• Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with SQL injection protection rules in front of the application
• Consider temporarily disabling the affected admin login functionality until a patch is applied
• Monitor all access attempts to the admin login page for suspicious activity

Patch Information

At the time of this publication, no official vendor patch has been released for this vulnerability. Organizations using the affected Open Source Job Portal 1.0 should monitor the IT Source Code Resource for security updates. Additional vulnerability details can be found in VulDB #325191.

Workarounds

• Implement input validation on the user_email parameter at the web server level using ModSecurity or similar WAF solutions to reject requests containing SQL injection patterns
• Modify the application code to use parameterized queries or prepared statements for the login functionality (if source code access is available)
• Add a secondary authentication layer such as IP whitelisting or VPN requirement for admin panel access
• Deploy network-level controls to limit exposure of the admin login endpoint to trusted networks only

# Example Apache ModSecurity rule to block SQL injection attempts
SecRule ARGS:user_email "@detectSQLi" \
    "id:1001,\
    phase:2,\
    deny,\
    status:403,\
    log,\
    msg:'SQL Injection attempt detected in user_email parameter',\
    tag:'CVE-2025-10834'"