CVE-2025-44830: EngineerCMS SQL Injection Vulnerability

CVE-2025-44830 Overview

A critical SQL injection vulnerability has been identified in EngineerCMS, a content management system designed for engineering projects. The vulnerability exists in the /project/addprojtemplet interface and affects versions v1.02 through v2.0.5. This flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary SQL queries against the underlying database, potentially leading to complete database compromise.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability to read, modify, or delete database contents, potentially extracting sensitive information, escalating privileges, or causing data loss.

Affected Products

• EngineerCMS v1.02 through v2.0.5
• engineercms_project:engineercms (all vulnerable versions)

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-05-12 - CVE-2025-44830 published to NVD
• 2025-06-13 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-44830

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as CWE-89 (SQL Injection), a well-known web application security flaw that occurs when user-supplied input is not properly sanitized before being incorporated into SQL queries. The vulnerable endpoint /project/addprojtemplet in EngineerCMS fails to adequately validate or escape user input, allowing attackers to inject malicious SQL statements.

The network-accessible nature of this vulnerability, combined with no authentication requirements, makes it particularly dangerous in internet-facing deployments. Successful exploitation could result in unauthorized access to sensitive engineering project data, user credentials, and configuration information stored in the database.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability lies in improper input validation within the /project/addprojtemplet endpoint. User-supplied data is directly concatenated into SQL queries without proper sanitization, parameterization, or use of prepared statements. This allows malicious SQL syntax to escape the intended query context and execute arbitrary database commands.

Attack Vector

The attack is executed over the network and requires no authentication or user interaction. An attacker can craft malicious HTTP requests to the /project/addprojtemplet endpoint containing SQL injection payloads. These payloads can manipulate the underlying SQL query to:

• Extract sensitive data from the database (data exfiltration)
• Modify or delete existing records (data manipulation)
• Bypass authentication mechanisms
• Potentially escalate to operating system command execution depending on database configuration

Technical details and proof-of-concept information are available in the GitHub Gist PoC and the GitHub Issue Discussion.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-44830

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual HTTP requests to /project/addprojtemplet containing SQL syntax patterns such as UNION, SELECT, INSERT, DELETE, DROP, or comment sequences (--, /*)
• Database error messages appearing in application logs or HTTP responses
• Unexpected database queries or query patterns in database audit logs
• Anomalous data access patterns or bulk data retrieval from the application database

Detection Strategies

• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block SQL injection patterns targeting the /project/addprojtemplet endpoint
• Enable detailed logging for HTTP requests to EngineerCMS and monitor for suspicious payloads
• Configure database query logging and alerting for unusual or malformed queries
• Deploy intrusion detection systems (IDS) with signatures for common SQL injection attack patterns

Monitoring Recommendations

• Continuously monitor web server access logs for requests to /project/addprojtemplet with suspicious query strings or POST data
• Set up alerts for database errors that may indicate SQL injection attempts
• Review database audit logs for unauthorized data access or modification attempts
• Monitor application behavior for unexpected database connections or query execution times

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-44830

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict access to the /project/addprojtemplet endpoint using network-level controls or authentication requirements
• Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with SQL injection protection rules
• If EngineerCMS is not critical, consider taking the application offline until a patched version is available
• Audit database access logs for signs of prior exploitation
• Review and backup database contents in case of data integrity issues

Patch Information

As of the last NVD update on 2025-06-13, no official vendor patch has been announced. Users should monitor the EngineerCMS GitHub repository for security updates and upgrade instructions. Organizations are advised to implement compensating controls until an official fix is released.

Workarounds

• Implement input validation at the application level or through a reverse proxy to sanitize requests to /project/addprojtemplet
• Use a WAF configured with strict SQL injection detection rules
• Restrict network access to EngineerCMS to trusted IP addresses only
• Apply the principle of least privilege to database accounts used by the application
• Consider migrating to a supported and actively maintained CMS if updates are not forthcoming

# Example: Restrict access to vulnerable endpoint using nginx
location /project/addprojtemplet {
    # Deny all access until patch is available
    deny all;
    return 403;
}