CVE-2025-44203: HotelDruid Information Disclosure Flaw

CVE-2025-44203 Overview

A critical information disclosure and denial of service vulnerability exists in HotelDruid 3.0.7, a popular hotel management system. An unauthenticated attacker can exploit verbose SQL error messages on the creadb.php endpoint before the 'create database' button is pressed. By sending malformed POST requests to this endpoint, the attacker may obtain the administrator username, password hash, and salt. In some cases, the attack results in a Denial of Service (DoS), preventing the administrator from logging in even with the correct credentials.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can extract administrator credentials (username, password hash, and salt) through verbose SQL error messages, potentially leading to complete system compromise or denial of service conditions.

Affected Products

• HotelDruid version 3.0.7
• HotelDruid version 3.0.0
• DigitalDruid HotelDruid (all versions in the 3.0.x branch)

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-06-20 - CVE-2025-44203 published to NVD
• 2025-06-26 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-44203

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-209 (Generation of Error Message Containing Sensitive Information). The HotelDruid application fails to properly sanitize or suppress SQL error messages during the database creation process. When an attacker sends specifically crafted malformed POST requests to the creadb.php endpoint, the application returns verbose error messages that inadvertently expose sensitive administrator credentials.

The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it requires no authentication to exploit. The attack surface is the database creation functionality, which is accessible before the system is fully configured. This represents a significant security flaw in the application's error handling and information exposure controls.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability lies in improper error handling within the creadb.php script. The application fails to implement proper exception handling and error message sanitization, allowing raw SQL error output to be returned to the client. This verbose error output includes sensitive database contents, specifically administrator authentication data including usernames, password hashes, and cryptographic salt values.

The application does not follow secure coding practices for error handling, which dictate that detailed error information should only be logged server-side and generic error messages should be presented to users.

Attack Vector

The attack is network-based and can be executed by any unauthenticated remote attacker with access to the HotelDruid web interface. The attacker targets the creadb.php endpoint with malformed POST requests designed to trigger SQL errors.

The exploitation flow involves:

1. The attacker identifies a HotelDruid installation with an accessible creadb.php endpoint
2. Malformed POST requests are sent to the endpoint to trigger SQL parsing errors
3. The application returns verbose error messages containing administrator credentials
4. The attacker extracts the username, password hash, and salt from the error response
5. In some scenarios, the attack corrupts the authentication state, causing a denial of service

For detailed technical analysis and proof-of-concept information, see the GitHub PoC Repository.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-44203

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual POST requests to the creadb.php endpoint from external IP addresses
• HTTP responses containing SQL error messages with credential-like data patterns
• Multiple failed administrator login attempts following suspicious activity on creadb.php
• Web server logs showing repeated malformed requests to database creation endpoints

Detection Strategies

• Monitor web server access logs for requests to creadb.php from untrusted sources
• Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block SQL injection patterns in POST requests
• Configure intrusion detection systems (IDS) to alert on verbose SQL error patterns in HTTP responses
• Deploy SentinelOne Singularity to detect anomalous application behavior and suspicious network traffic patterns

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed logging for the HotelDruid application and review logs regularly for suspicious activity
• Set up real-time alerts for authentication failures following access to database setup endpoints
• Monitor for credential stuffing attempts that may follow successful extraction of password hashes
• Implement application performance monitoring to detect DoS conditions affecting login functionality

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-44203

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict access to creadb.php by IP address or remove the file entirely if database setup is complete
• Implement web application firewall rules to block malicious POST requests to the vulnerable endpoint
• Review administrator credentials and rotate passwords if compromise is suspected
• Enable HTTPS and ensure all sensitive endpoints are protected from unauthorized access

Patch Information

As of the last NVD update on 2025-06-26, users should check the Hotel Druid Homepage for the latest security updates and patches addressing this vulnerability. It is strongly recommended to upgrade to a patched version as soon as one becomes available from DigitalDruid.

Workarounds

• Delete or rename the creadb.php file if the database has already been created and the installation is complete
• Use .htaccess or web server configuration to restrict access to creadb.php to localhost or trusted IP ranges only
• Implement a reverse proxy with request filtering to block malformed POST requests to sensitive endpoints
• Deploy network segmentation to limit access to the HotelDruid management interface from untrusted networks

# Apache .htaccess example to restrict access to creadb.php
<Files "creadb.php">
    Require ip 127.0.0.1
    Require ip 192.168.1.0/24
</Files>