CVE-2025-5232: PHPGurukul Student Center SQL Injection

CVE-2025-5232 Overview

CVE-2025-5232 is a SQL injection vulnerability in PHPGurukul Student Study Center Management System version 1.0. The flaw resides in the /admin/report.php endpoint, where the fromdate and todate parameters are passed to backend database queries without proper sanitization. An authenticated attacker with administrative access can manipulate these parameters to inject arbitrary SQL statements. The exploit details have been publicly disclosed, increasing the risk of opportunistic exploitation against exposed instances.

Critical Impact
Successful exploitation allows attackers to read, modify, or extract data from the application database, including student records and administrative credentials.

Affected Products

PHPGurukul Student Study Center Management System 1.0
Deployments using the vulnerable /admin/report.php reporting module
Installations exposing the admin interface to untrusted networks

Discovery Timeline

2025-05-27 - CVE-2025-5232 published to NVD
2025-06-10 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-5232

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is classified under [CWE-74] (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component). The affected file /admin/report.php accepts user-supplied input via the fromdate and todate HTTP request parameters. These values are concatenated directly into a SQL query string used to filter report data by date range.

Because the application does not use parameterized queries or proper input validation, attackers can append SQL syntax to break out of the intended query context. The injection point sits behind authentication, requiring valid administrative credentials to reach the vulnerable endpoint. However, weak or default admin credentials in PHPGurukul deployments lower the practical barrier to exploitation.

The EPSS score is 0.348%, reflecting relatively low predicted exploitation activity. The attack is remotely initiated over the network and requires no user interaction beyond the attacker's authenticated session.

Root Cause

The root cause is the direct concatenation of HTTP request parameters into SQL queries without prepared statements or input sanitization. The fromdate and todate arguments are trusted as date strings, but the application performs no type validation or escaping before passing them to the MySQL backend.

Attack Vector

An attacker authenticated to the admin panel sends a crafted HTTP request to /admin/report.php containing SQL payloads in the fromdate or todate parameters. The injected SQL executes within the database context of the application, enabling data extraction through union-based, error-based, or time-based blind injection techniques. Refer to the GitHub CVE Issue #11 and VulDB #310331 entries for the disclosed proof-of-concept details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-5232

Indicators of Compromise

HTTP POST or GET requests to /admin/report.php containing SQL keywords such as UNION, SELECT, SLEEP, or -- in the fromdate or todate parameters
Database error messages logged in web server output referencing malformed date values
Unexpected outbound database traffic or query patterns originating from the application server
Authentication log entries showing admin sessions from unfamiliar IP addresses preceding suspicious report requests

Detection Strategies

Deploy web application firewall (WAF) rules that inspect query parameters submitted to /admin/report.php for SQL metacharacters
Monitor MySQL general or slow query logs for malformed BETWEEN or WHERE clauses associated with the report module
Correlate admin authentication events with subsequent high-volume queries against the reporting endpoint

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable verbose logging on the PHP application and forward logs to a centralized SIEM for analysis
Alert on repeated 500-series HTTP responses from /admin/report.php, which often indicate injection probing
Track query execution times for the reports table to identify time-based blind SQL injection attempts

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-5232

Immediate Actions Required

Restrict access to the /admin/ directory using IP allowlists or VPN-only access until a vendor patch is released
Rotate all administrative credentials and enforce strong password policies for PHPGurukul accounts
Audit existing report logs and database tables for signs of unauthorized data access or modification
Place the application behind a WAF configured with SQL injection signatures

Patch Information

No official vendor patch is currently listed in the NVD references. Administrators should monitor the PHP Gurukul website for updated releases addressing this issue. Until a fix is published, treat all PHPGurukul Student Study Center Management System 1.0 deployments as vulnerable.

Workarounds

Manually modify /admin/report.php to use PDO prepared statements with bound parameters for fromdate and todate
Add server-side input validation that enforces strict YYYY-MM-DD date formatting before query execution
Disable or remove the reporting module if it is not required for business operations

bash

# Example WAF rule (ModSecurity) blocking SQL metacharacters in date parameters
SecRule ARGS:fromdate|ARGS:todate "@rx (?i)(union|select|sleep|--|';|/\*)" \
    "id:1005232,phase:2,deny,status:403,msg:'CVE-2025-5232 SQLi attempt blocked'"