CVE-2025-23218: Wegia Web Manager SQL Injection Flaw

CVE-2025-23218 Overview

CVE-2025-23218 is a critical SQL Injection vulnerability discovered in WeGIA, an open source web manager focused on the Portuguese language and charitable institutions. The vulnerability exists in the adicionar_especie.php endpoint, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands against the database. This flaw enables unauthorized access to sensitive information and complete database compromise.

Critical Impact

This vulnerability allows unauthenticated remote attackers to perform a complete dump of the application's database, exposing sensitive data from charitable institutions and their beneficiaries.

Affected Products

• WeGIA versions prior to 3.2.10
• WeGIA web manager deployments with the adicionar_especie.php endpoint exposed
• All WeGIA installations that have not applied the security patch

Discovery Timeline

• January 20, 2025 - CVE-2025-23218 published to NVD
• February 28, 2025 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-23218

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL Injection vulnerability (CWE-89) affects the adicionar_especie.php endpoint in the WeGIA application. The vulnerability arises from improper neutralization of special elements used in SQL commands, allowing attackers to manipulate database queries through user-supplied input. The flaw enables network-based attacks without requiring authentication or user interaction, making it highly exploitable.

During security analysis, researchers demonstrated the ability to perform a complete database dump, exposing all stored data including potentially sensitive information about charitable institutions and their beneficiaries. The vulnerability requires no special privileges or complex attack chains to exploit.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-23218 is the failure to properly sanitize and validate user input before incorporating it into SQL queries within the adicionar_especie.php endpoint. The application directly concatenates user-supplied data into SQL statements without using parameterized queries or prepared statements, allowing attackers to inject malicious SQL code that gets executed by the database engine.

Attack Vector

The attack vector for this vulnerability is network-based, allowing remote exploitation. An attacker can craft malicious HTTP requests to the adicionar_especie.php endpoint containing SQL injection payloads. These payloads can manipulate the underlying database queries to extract data, modify records, or potentially gain further access to the underlying system.

The vulnerability does not require authentication, meaning any attacker with network access to the WeGIA application can attempt exploitation. The attack complexity is low, and no user interaction is required.

For detailed technical information about the vulnerability mechanism, refer to the GitHub Security Advisory.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-23218

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual or malformed HTTP requests targeting the adicionar_especie.php endpoint
• Database query logs showing unexpected SQL syntax including UNION, SELECT, or comment characters in user input fields
• Abnormal database access patterns or large data retrievals from the application
• Web server logs containing SQL injection attack signatures in request parameters

Detection Strategies

• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block SQL injection patterns targeting the adicionar_especie.php endpoint
• Configure application-level logging to capture all requests to vulnerable endpoints
• Deploy database activity monitoring to detect anomalous query patterns indicative of SQL injection attempts
• Use SentinelOne Singularity Platform to monitor for suspicious process behaviors and network connections associated with post-exploitation activities

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed logging on web servers hosting WeGIA applications and forward logs to a SIEM solution
• Monitor database query performance metrics for sudden spikes that may indicate data exfiltration attempts
• Implement alerting for requests containing common SQL injection keywords in web application logs
• Regularly review database access logs for unauthorized data access patterns

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-23218

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade WeGIA to version 3.2.10 or later immediately to address this vulnerability
• If immediate patching is not possible, temporarily disable or restrict access to the adicionar_especie.php endpoint
• Implement network-level access controls to limit exposure of the WeGIA application to trusted networks only
• Review database logs and backups to determine if the vulnerability has been exploited

Patch Information

The vulnerability has been fixed in WeGIA version 3.2.10. The security patch is available through the official GitHub Commit. Organizations should update to the patched version immediately to mitigate the risk of exploitation.

Workarounds

• Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with SQL injection detection rules as a temporary protective measure
• Restrict network access to the WeGIA application using firewall rules to allow only trusted IP addresses
• Implement input validation at the application level if source code modifications are possible before the official patch can be applied
• Consider temporarily taking the affected endpoint offline until the patch can be deployed

# Example WAF rule to block SQL injection attempts (ModSecurity)
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@contains adicionar_especie.php" \
    "id:1001,phase:2,deny,status:403,\
    chain"
SecRule ARGS "@rx (?i)(union|select|insert|update|delete|drop|--|;)" \
    "t:urlDecodeUni,t:htmlEntityDecode"