CVE-2025-13267: Dental Clinic Appointment System SQLi Flaw

CVE-2025-13267 Overview

A SQL injection vulnerability has been identified in SourceCodester Dental Clinic Appointment Reservation System version 1.0. The vulnerability exists in the /success.php file where the username and password parameters are not properly sanitized before being used in SQL queries. This allows remote attackers to inject malicious SQL statements and potentially compromise the underlying database.

Critical Impact

Remote attackers can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability to extract sensitive patient data, bypass authentication mechanisms, modify appointment records, or potentially gain unauthorized access to the backend database server.

Affected Products

• Jkev Dental Clinic Appointment Reservation System 1.0
• SourceCodester Dental Clinic Appointment Reservation System deployments using /success.php

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-11-17 - CVE-2025-13267 published to NVD
• 2025-11-20 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-13267

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as SQL Injection (CWE-89) and Injection (CWE-74). The vulnerable endpoint /success.php accepts user-controlled input through the username and password parameters without adequate input validation or sanitization. When these parameters are incorporated directly into SQL queries, an attacker can manipulate the query logic to perform unauthorized database operations.

The time-based SQL injection technique can be used to extract data from the database by observing response delays. This type of blind SQL injection allows attackers to infer information about the database structure and contents even when direct error messages are not displayed.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is improper input validation and the use of unsanitized user input directly in SQL queries. The application fails to implement prepared statements or parameterized queries, which are the standard defense against SQL injection attacks. Additionally, there is no input filtering or escaping mechanism applied to the username and password fields before they are concatenated into SQL statements.

Attack Vector

The attack can be initiated remotely over the network without requiring any special privileges beyond basic authenticated access to the application. An attacker can craft malicious input values for the username or password parameters that contain SQL syntax. When these values are processed by /success.php, the injected SQL commands are executed by the database server.

The time-based SQL injection approach involves injecting SQL statements that cause deliberate delays (such as using SLEEP() functions in MySQL), allowing the attacker to extract data bit by bit based on whether the response is delayed. This technique is particularly effective when the application does not return direct database errors or query results.

For technical exploitation details, refer to the GitHub PoC Repository containing the proof-of-concept documentation.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-13267

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual database query response times indicating time-based SQL injection attempts
• Web server logs containing SQL syntax in username or password parameters (e.g., SLEEP(), BENCHMARK(), WAITFOR DELAY)
• Multiple failed login attempts with malformed input containing special characters like single quotes, double dashes, or semicolons
• Abnormal database CPU usage or query execution patterns

Detection Strategies

• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block SQL injection patterns in HTTP requests to /success.php
• Enable database query logging and monitor for suspicious queries containing injected SQL commands or unusual timing functions
• Deploy intrusion detection systems (IDS) with signatures for common SQL injection payloads
• Monitor application logs for requests containing URL-encoded SQL syntax in authentication parameters

Monitoring Recommendations

• Set up alerts for HTTP requests to /success.php containing SQL metacharacters or injection keywords
• Monitor database server performance for anomalous query execution times that may indicate time-based injection exploitation
• Review access logs for repeated requests to the vulnerable endpoint from single IP addresses
• Implement rate limiting on authentication endpoints to slow down automated SQL injection attacks

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-13267

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict network access to the Dental Clinic Appointment Reservation System to trusted IP addresses only
• Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with SQL injection protection rules in front of the vulnerable application
• Review and audit all user accounts in the database for signs of unauthorized access or modification
• Consider taking the application offline until a proper fix can be implemented

Patch Information

No official vendor patch is currently available for this vulnerability. The Dental Clinic Appointment Reservation System is distributed through SourceCodester, and users should monitor for any security updates. Additional vulnerability details are available through VulDB #332602.

Workarounds

• Modify the /success.php file to use prepared statements with parameterized queries instead of string concatenation for SQL queries
• Implement input validation to reject any input containing SQL metacharacters in the username and password fields
• Apply web server-level filtering using ModSecurity or similar tools to block requests containing SQL injection patterns
• Use database user accounts with minimal privileges for the application connection to limit the impact of successful exploitation

# Example ModSecurity rule to block SQL injection attempts
SecRule ARGS "@detectSQLi" "id:1001,phase:2,deny,status:403,log,msg:'SQL Injection Detected'"
SecRule REQUEST_FILENAME "/success.php" "chain,id:1002,phase:2"
SecRule ARGS:username|ARGS:password "@rx (?i)(sleep|benchmark|waitfor|delay|select|union|insert|update|delete|drop)" "deny,status:403,log,msg:'SQL Injection Pattern in Auth Fields'"