CVE-2025-4726: Placement Management System SQLi Flaw

CVE-2025-4726 Overview

A critical SQL injection vulnerability has been identified in itsourcecode Placement Management System version 1.0. This vulnerability exists in the /view_student.php file, where the ID parameter is improperly validated before being used in database queries. Attackers can exploit this flaw remotely to inject malicious SQL commands, potentially leading to unauthorized data access, data manipulation, or complete database compromise.

Critical Impact

Remote attackers can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability to extract sensitive student and placement data, modify database records, or potentially gain unauthorized administrative access to the placement management system.

Affected Products

• Angeljudesuarez Placement Management System 1.0
• itsourcecode Placement Management System 1.0

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-05-15 - CVE-2025-4726 published to NVD
• 2025-05-27 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-4726

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL injection vulnerability (CWE-89) exists due to improper neutralization of special elements used in SQL commands within the /view_student.php endpoint. The application fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input in the ID parameter before incorporating it into SQL queries. This allows attackers to inject arbitrary SQL statements that will be executed by the database with the application's privileges.

The vulnerability also falls under CWE-74 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component), indicating that the injected content can affect downstream processing components, namely the database management system.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is the lack of proper input validation and parameterized queries in the /view_student.php file. The ID parameter is directly concatenated into SQL queries without sanitization, escaping, or the use of prepared statements. This allows malicious SQL syntax to be interpreted as part of the query structure rather than as data.

Attack Vector

The attack can be initiated remotely over the network without requiring any authentication or user interaction. An attacker can craft a malicious HTTP request to /view_student.php with a specially crafted ID parameter containing SQL injection payloads. The vulnerability is network-accessible, making it exploitable by any remote attacker who can reach the application.

Typical exploitation scenarios include:

• Using UNION-based injection to extract data from other database tables
• Employing Boolean-based blind injection to enumerate database contents
• Leveraging time-based blind injection techniques when error messages are suppressed
• Potential escalation to command execution if database features like xp_cmdshell (MSSQL) or INTO OUTFILE (MySQL) are available

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-4726

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual or malformed requests to /view_student.php containing SQL syntax in the ID parameter
• Database error messages appearing in application logs or HTTP responses
• Unexpected database queries with UNION, SELECT, or other SQL keywords in user input fields
• Anomalous database read patterns or bulk data extraction activities

Detection Strategies

• Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect SQL injection patterns in the ID parameter
• Monitor HTTP request logs for suspicious characters and SQL keywords (e.g., ', --, UNION, SELECT, OR 1=1)
• Configure database query logging to identify anomalous or malformed queries originating from the application
• Deploy intrusion detection signatures targeting common SQL injection payloads

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed logging for all requests to /view_student.php and analyze for injection attempts
• Set up alerts for database errors that may indicate failed injection attempts
• Monitor for unusual data access patterns or large result sets being returned from student-related tables
• Implement real-time log analysis to detect and respond to active exploitation attempts

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-4726

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict network access to the Placement Management System to trusted networks only
• Implement input validation on the ID parameter to accept only numeric values
• Deploy a web application firewall (WAF) with SQL injection detection rules
• Review database user permissions and apply the principle of least privilege

Patch Information

No official patch has been released by the vendor at this time. Organizations using itsourcecode Placement Management System 1.0 should contact the vendor for remediation guidance or implement the workarounds described below. For additional technical details, refer to the GitHub Issue Discussion and VulDB advisory.

Workarounds

• Modify the /view_student.php file to use parameterized queries or prepared statements instead of string concatenation
• Implement server-side input validation to ensure the ID parameter contains only numeric characters
• Add a web application firewall (WAF) rule to block requests containing SQL injection patterns in the ID parameter
• Consider temporarily disabling the vulnerable endpoint until a proper fix can be implemented
• Apply database hardening by restricting the application's database user to minimum required permissions

# Example: Apache mod_security rule to block SQL injection attempts
SecRule ARGS:ID "@rx (?i)(\b(select|union|insert|update|delete|drop|alter|exec|execute|xp_|sp_|0x|char\()\b|--|;|')" \
    "id:100001,phase:2,deny,status:403,msg:'SQL Injection attempt blocked on ID parameter'"