CVE-2025-12226: Best House Rental Management SQL Injection

CVE-2025-12226 Overview

A SQL injection vulnerability has been identified in SourceCodester Best House Rental Management System version 1.0. The vulnerability exists in the save_house function within the /admin_class.php file. An attacker can exploit this flaw by manipulating the house_no argument to inject malicious SQL commands. This vulnerability is remotely exploitable, and proof-of-concept exploit code has been publicly disclosed.

Critical Impact

Attackers with administrative privileges can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability to read, modify, or delete database contents, potentially compromising tenant information, rental records, and system configuration data.

Affected Products

• Mayurik Best House Rental Management System 1.0
• SourceCodester Best House Rental Management System 1.0

Discovery Timeline

• October 27, 2025 - CVE-2025-12226 published to NVD
• October 28, 2025 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-12226

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL injection vulnerability (CWE-89) occurs due to improper neutralization of special elements used in SQL commands. The save_house function in /admin_class.php fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input passed through the house_no parameter before incorporating it into SQL queries. This allows an authenticated attacker with administrative access to inject arbitrary SQL statements that will be executed by the database server.

The vulnerability also falls under CWE-74 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component), as the application fails to properly validate and sanitize input before using it in database operations. While administrative privileges are required to exploit this vulnerability, the attack can be performed remotely over the network with no user interaction required.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is the lack of proper input validation and parameterized queries in the save_house function. The house_no parameter is directly concatenated into SQL statements without sanitization or the use of prepared statements. This classic SQL injection pattern allows attackers to escape the intended query structure and execute arbitrary SQL commands.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based, requiring the attacker to have authenticated administrative access to the application. The attacker can craft a malicious request to the /admin_class.php endpoint with a specially crafted house_no parameter containing SQL injection payloads. Since the exploit has been publicly disclosed, attackers can leverage available proof-of-concept code to exploit vulnerable installations.

The vulnerability allows for potential data exfiltration, unauthorized data modification, and in some database configurations, could lead to more severe compromise including command execution on the underlying server.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-12226

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual SQL error messages in application logs originating from /admin_class.php
• Database query logs showing unexpected UNION SELECT, OR 1=1, or other SQL injection patterns in queries involving house records
• Administrative account activity at unusual times or from unexpected IP addresses
• Unexpected database modifications to house rental records or system tables

Detection Strategies

• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect SQL injection patterns in HTTP requests to /admin_class.php
• Monitor database query logs for anomalous SQL statements containing injection payloads
• Deploy application-layer intrusion detection to identify requests with malicious house_no parameter values
• Review access logs for suspicious POST requests to the save_house function endpoint

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed logging for all administrative actions within the House Rental Management System
• Configure database audit logging to capture all queries executed against sensitive tables
• Set up alerts for SQL error conditions that may indicate injection attempts
• Monitor for bulk data access patterns that could indicate data exfiltration

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-12226

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict network access to the administrative interface to trusted IP addresses only
• Implement additional authentication mechanisms such as multi-factor authentication for admin accounts
• Deploy a Web Application Firewall with SQL injection protection rules
• Review administrative account credentials and rotate passwords immediately
• Consider taking the application offline if it contains sensitive data until a patch is available

Patch Information

No official patch has been released by the vendor at the time of this publication. Organizations using this software should monitor SourceCodester for security updates. Additional vulnerability details can be found in the GitHub Vulnerability Report and VulDB #329896.

Workarounds

• Implement input validation on the house_no parameter to allow only expected characters (alphanumeric values)
• Modify the application code to use prepared statements or parameterized queries for all database operations
• Deploy a reverse proxy with SQL injection filtering capabilities in front of the application
• Restrict database user privileges to minimum required permissions to limit potential damage from successful exploitation

# Example: Restrict access to admin interface via .htaccess
<Files "admin_class.php">
    Order Deny,Allow
    Deny from all
    Allow from 192.168.1.0/24
    Allow from 10.0.0.0/8
</Files>