CVE-2025-13057: Campcodes School Fees System SQLi Flaw

CVE-2025-13057 Overview

A SQL injection vulnerability has been identified in Campcodes School Fees Payment Management System version 1.0. The vulnerability exists in the /ajax.php?action=save_student endpoint, where improper handling of the ID argument allows attackers to inject malicious SQL commands. This flaw enables remote attackers with low privileges to manipulate database queries, potentially leading to unauthorized data access, modification, or deletion.

Critical Impact

Authenticated attackers can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability to extract sensitive student and payment data, modify financial records, or escalate privileges within the school fees management system.

Affected Products

• Campcodes School Fees Payment Management System version 1.0

Discovery Timeline

• November 12, 2025 - CVE-2025-13057 published to NVD
• November 17, 2025 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-13057

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as SQL Injection (CWE-89) and Injection (CWE-74). The affected component is the save_student action handler within the /ajax.php file. The vulnerability occurs because user-supplied input via the ID parameter is directly incorporated into SQL queries without proper sanitization or parameterization.

The attack can be initiated remotely over the network and requires only low-level authentication to exploit. When successful, an attacker can execute arbitrary SQL commands against the underlying database, potentially compromising the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of student records and payment information stored in the system.

The exploit for this vulnerability has been publicly disclosed, increasing the risk of active exploitation against unpatched installations.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is insufficient input validation and lack of parameterized queries in the save_student functionality. The ID parameter is directly concatenated into SQL statements without proper escaping or use of prepared statements, allowing attackers to break out of the intended query context and inject malicious SQL code.

Attack Vector

The attack is network-based and requires authenticated access with low privileges. An attacker can craft malicious HTTP requests to the /ajax.php?action=save_student endpoint, injecting SQL payloads through the ID parameter. The low attack complexity combined with no user interaction requirements makes this vulnerability straightforward to exploit.

A typical attack scenario involves an authenticated user sending specially crafted requests where the ID parameter contains SQL injection payloads such as UNION-based queries to extract data, or time-based blind injection techniques to enumerate database contents. For detailed technical information, see the GitHub CVE Issue and VulDB entry #332184.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-13057

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual SQL error messages in web server logs referencing the /ajax.php endpoint
• HTTP requests to /ajax.php?action=save_student containing SQL metacharacters such as single quotes, UNION statements, or comment sequences
• Database query logs showing unexpected queries originating from the application
• Abnormal data access patterns or bulk data extraction from student or payment tables

Detection Strategies

• Deploy Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block SQL injection patterns in the ID parameter
• Monitor HTTP access logs for requests to /ajax.php?action=save_student with suspicious payload patterns
• Implement database activity monitoring to detect anomalous query patterns or unauthorized data access
• Configure application-level logging to capture and alert on SQL errors or exceptions

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose logging on the database server to capture all queries executed by the application
• Set up alerts for multiple failed authentication attempts combined with SQL error responses
• Monitor for data exfiltration patterns such as large result sets or unusual export activities
• Review access logs regularly for requests containing URL-encoded SQL injection payloads

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-13057

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict network access to the School Fees Payment Management System to trusted IP addresses only
• Implement a Web Application Firewall with SQL injection protection rules
• Review and audit all user accounts for unauthorized access or privilege escalation
• Consider taking the application offline until a patch is available or mitigations are in place

Patch Information

As of the last update on November 17, 2025, no official patch has been released by Campcodes for this vulnerability. Organizations should monitor the Campcodes website for security updates and apply patches as soon as they become available.

Workarounds

• Implement input validation to reject SQL metacharacters in the ID parameter at the web server or reverse proxy level
• Deploy a WAF rule to specifically filter requests to /ajax.php?action=save_student containing injection patterns
• Limit database user privileges used by the application to the minimum required for operations
• Segment the database server network to limit potential lateral movement in case of compromise

# Example WAF rule configuration (ModSecurity)
SecRule ARGS:ID "@rx (?i:union|select|insert|update|delete|drop|--|;|')" \
    "id:1001,phase:2,deny,status:403,log,msg:'SQL Injection attempt blocked in ID parameter'"