CVE-2025-11329: Online Course Registration SQLi Flaw

CVE-2025-11329 Overview

A SQL injection vulnerability has been discovered in code-projects Online Course Registration version 1.0. The flaw exists in the /admin/manage-students.php file, where improper handling of the ID parameter allows attackers to inject malicious SQL statements. This vulnerability can be exploited remotely without authentication, potentially enabling unauthorized access to sensitive database contents, data manipulation, or further compromise of the underlying system.

Critical Impact

Remote attackers can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability to access, modify, or delete database contents, potentially compromising student records, administrative credentials, and other sensitive information stored in the application's database.

Affected Products

• Fabian Online Course Registration Site 1.0
• code-projects Online Course Registration 1.0

Discovery Timeline

• October 6, 2025 - CVE-2025-11329 published to NVD
• October 7, 2025 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-11329

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL injection vulnerability (CWE-74: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component) affects the administrative functionality of the Online Course Registration application. The vulnerability resides in the student management module, specifically within the /admin/manage-students.php endpoint.

The application fails to properly sanitize or parameterize the ID argument before incorporating it into SQL queries. This allows attackers to craft malicious input that breaks out of the intended query structure and executes arbitrary SQL commands against the backend database.

The network-accessible nature of this vulnerability means that any attacker with network access to the application can attempt exploitation without requiring prior authentication or user interaction. The exploit has been publicly disclosed, increasing the risk of opportunistic attacks against vulnerable installations.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is insufficient input validation and the lack of parameterized queries (prepared statements) when handling the ID parameter in the /admin/manage-students.php file. Instead of treating user input as data, the application directly concatenates or interpolates the ID value into SQL query strings, allowing attackers to inject SQL syntax that alters the query's logic.

This is a classic example of improper input sanitization where user-controlled data is trusted and passed directly to database operations without adequate filtering or escaping mechanisms.

Attack Vector

The attack vector for CVE-2025-11329 is network-based, allowing remote exploitation. An attacker can target the vulnerable endpoint by sending crafted HTTP requests to /admin/manage-students.php with a malicious ID parameter value containing SQL injection payloads.

Typical exploitation techniques include:

• Union-based injection: Appending UNION SELECT statements to extract data from other tables
• Boolean-based blind injection: Using conditional statements to infer database contents character by character
• Time-based blind injection: Leveraging database sleep functions to confirm successful injection
• Error-based injection: Forcing database errors that reveal schema information

The vulnerability allows attackers to potentially extract sensitive student information, administrative credentials, or other data stored in the database. In some configurations, SQL injection can also lead to command execution on the underlying server.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-11329

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual SQL error messages in application logs referencing /admin/manage-students.php
• HTTP requests to /admin/manage-students.php containing SQL keywords such as UNION, SELECT, OR 1=1, --, or encoded equivalents in the ID parameter
• Database query logs showing unexpected or malformed queries originating from the student management module
• Anomalous database access patterns including bulk data extraction or unusual table enumeration

Detection Strategies

• Deploy Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block common SQL injection patterns targeting the ID parameter
• Implement application-level logging for all requests to administrative endpoints with parameter inspection
• Configure database query monitoring to alert on suspicious query patterns or syntax errors
• Use intrusion detection systems (IDS) with SQL injection signature rules focused on PHP application attacks

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose logging for the /admin/manage-students.php endpoint and related database queries
• Monitor for increased error rates or unusual response times from the student management functionality
• Set up alerts for multiple failed or malformed requests targeting administrative pages
• Review access logs for patterns indicative of automated SQL injection scanning tools

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-11329

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict network access to the /admin/manage-students.php endpoint using firewall rules or access control lists
• Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with SQL injection protection rules as an interim measure
• Disable or remove the vulnerable component if not critical to operations until a patch is available
• Review database permissions to limit the privileges of the application's database user account

Patch Information

As of the last NVD update on October 7, 2025, no official vendor patch has been announced for this vulnerability. Organizations using Fabian Online Course Registration Site should monitor the Code Projects Resource Hub for security updates and patches. Additional technical details are available in the GitHub CVE Issue Report and VulDB #327212.

Workarounds

• Implement input validation at the application level to reject non-numeric or suspicious values for the ID parameter
• Apply parameterized queries or prepared statements to the vulnerable code section if source code access is available
• Use network segmentation to isolate the application and limit exposure to trusted networks only
• Implement rate limiting on administrative endpoints to slow down automated exploitation attempts
• Consider deploying the application behind a reverse proxy with SQL injection filtering capabilities

# Example WAF rule for ModSecurity to block SQL injection attempts
# Add to ModSecurity configuration
SecRule ARGS:ID "@detectSQLi" \
    "id:100001,\
    phase:2,\
    block,\
    msg:'SQL Injection Attempt Detected in ID Parameter',\
    logdata:'Matched Data: %{MATCHED_VAR} found within %{MATCHED_VAR_NAME}',\
    severity:'CRITICAL',\
    tag:'application-multi',\
    tag:'language-multi',\
    tag:'platform-multi',\
    tag:'attack-sqli'"