CVE-2025-1144: School Affairs System Info Disclosure Flaw

CVE-2025-1144 Overview

CVE-2025-1144 is a critical Sensitive Information Exposure vulnerability affecting the School Affairs System developed by Quanxun. This vulnerability allows unauthenticated remote attackers to access specific pages within the application and obtain sensitive database information, including plaintext administrator credentials. The exposure of administrative credentials in cleartext represents a severe security flaw that could lead to complete system compromise.

Critical Impact
Unauthenticated attackers can remotely access sensitive database information and plaintext administrator credentials, potentially leading to full administrative control of affected school systems.

Affected Products

Quanxun School Affairs System

Discovery Timeline

2025-02-11 - CVE-2025-1144 published to NVD
2025-08-26 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-1144

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability falls under CWE-497 (Exposure of Sensitive System Information to an Unauthorized Control Sphere). The School Affairs System fails to properly restrict access to pages containing sensitive configuration data and administrative credentials. The fundamental flaw lies in the application's lack of authentication checks on endpoints that expose critical system information.

The vulnerability is particularly severe because it requires no authentication to exploit—any attacker with network access to the application can view sensitive pages. The exposure of plaintext administrator credentials indicates poor security practices in credential storage, compounding the issue by making credential reuse attacks trivial once the information is obtained.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-1144 is improper access control implementation combined with insecure storage of sensitive credentials. The application exposes sensitive system pages without requiring authentication, and stores administrator credentials in plaintext rather than using secure hashing mechanisms. This combination of missing authentication controls and poor credential management creates a critical attack surface.

Attack Vector

The attack vector for this vulnerability is network-based, requiring no privileges, no user interaction, and involving low attack complexity. An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by:

Identifying accessible pages within the School Affairs System that contain sensitive information
Directly accessing these pages without providing authentication credentials
Extracting database connection information and plaintext administrator credentials
Using the obtained administrator credentials to gain full control of the system

The vulnerability is exploitable remotely over the network, making it accessible to any attacker who can reach the application. For technical details regarding the specific vulnerable endpoints and exploitation methodology, refer to the TWCERT Security Advisory.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-1144

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected access to administrative configuration pages from unauthenticated sessions
Web server logs showing requests to sensitive system information endpoints without valid session tokens
Evidence of credential harvesting or unauthorized administrative login attempts following reconnaissance activity

Detection Strategies

Monitor web application logs for requests to configuration or administrative pages that lack associated authentication events
Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect and alert on access attempts to sensitive information endpoints
Review access control configurations to identify pages that expose system information without requiring authentication

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable detailed logging for all access to administrative interfaces and configuration pages
Implement real-time alerting for successful access to sensitive pages from non-administrative sources
Conduct regular security audits to identify exposed endpoints that should require authentication

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-1144

Immediate Actions Required

Restrict network access to the School Affairs System to trusted networks only until patches are applied
Immediately change all administrator credentials and ensure new passwords are stored using secure hashing algorithms
Review and audit access control configurations to ensure all sensitive pages require proper authentication
Monitor for any signs of credential compromise or unauthorized access

Patch Information

Organizations should contact Quanxun directly for patch availability and update instructions. Review the TWCERT Security Advisory for additional remediation guidance and vendor communication details.

Workarounds

Implement network-level access controls (firewall rules, VPN requirements) to limit exposure of the School Affairs System to trusted users only
Deploy a web application firewall (WAF) to block unauthenticated access attempts to sensitive administrative pages
Consider taking the system offline or restricting to internal network access only until a vendor patch is available

bash

# Example: Restrict access to School Affairs System using iptables
# Allow only trusted internal network
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -s 192.168.1.0/24 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -s 192.168.1.0/24 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j DROP
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j DROP