CVE-2025-64492: SuiteCRM Time-Based SQL Injection Flaw

CVE-2025-64492 Overview

CVE-2025-64492 is a time-based blind SQL injection vulnerability in SuiteCRM, an open-source enterprise Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application maintained by SalesAgility. The flaw affects versions 8.9.0 and below and is categorized under [CWE-89]. An authenticated attacker can issue crafted requests that cause the database to delay responses based on conditional logic, allowing inference of data without direct output. Successful exploitation enables enumeration of database, table, and column names, extraction of sensitive records, and potential privilege escalation within the application. SalesAgility addressed the issue in SuiteCRM 8.9.1.

Critical Impact
Authenticated attackers can extract sensitive CRM data, including customer records and credentials, and escalate privileges by inferring database contents through timing-based SQL injection.

Affected Products

SuiteCRM versions 8.9.0 and below
SalesAgility SuiteCRM Core deployments
Self-hosted and on-premises SuiteCRM installations

Discovery Timeline

2025-11-08 - CVE-2025-64492 published to NVD
2025-11-25 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-64492

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a time-based blind SQL injection flaw in SuiteCRM 8.9.0 and earlier. User-supplied input reaches a SQL query without proper parameterization or sanitization. Because the affected endpoint does not return query results directly to the attacker, exploitation relies on payloads that force the database engine to pause execution under specific conditions. The attacker observes response latency to determine whether a Boolean condition evaluates true or false. Repeating this process character by character allows full reconstruction of database contents. The flaw requires authentication, which limits unauthenticated mass exploitation but does not prevent abuse by low-privilege users or compromised accounts.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper neutralization of special elements used in an SQL command [CWE-89]. SuiteCRM passes attacker-controlled input into a query path that concatenates strings rather than using prepared statements with bound parameters. This pattern permits injected SQL operators such as SLEEP(), BENCHMARK(), or conditional CASE expressions to influence query execution time.

Attack Vector

Exploitation occurs over the network against an authenticated SuiteCRM session. The attacker submits HTTP requests containing crafted parameters that include time-delay SQL payloads. By measuring whether the server response is delayed, the attacker infers single bits or characters of data. Automated tools such as sqlmap can iterate this process to enumerate schema metadata and dump table contents.

No verified public proof-of-concept code is available. Refer to the SuiteCRM GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-54m4-4p54-j8hp for vendor-supplied technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-64492

Indicators of Compromise

HTTP request parameters containing SQL keywords such as SLEEP, BENCHMARK, WAITFOR DELAY, or conditional CASE WHEN expressions targeting SuiteCRM endpoints.
Unusually long response times from SuiteCRM application servers correlated with authenticated sessions.
High volumes of similar requests from a single session iterating over parameter values, consistent with automated SQL injection tooling.

Detection Strategies

Inspect web server and application logs for repeated authenticated requests with abnormal query string lengths or encoded SQL syntax.
Configure web application firewall (WAF) rules to flag time-delay function names and tautology-based payloads directed at SuiteCRM URLs.
Correlate database query duration metrics with corresponding HTTP request identifiers to surface queries with anomalously long execution times.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable verbose SQL query logging on the backing MySQL or MariaDB instance during incident triage to capture injected payloads.
Alert on authenticated SuiteCRM sessions that generate sustained request bursts with response times exceeding normal baselines.
Monitor for privilege changes, new administrative accounts, or unexpected exports of CRM records following suspicious request patterns.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-64492

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade all SuiteCRM instances to version 8.9.1 or later without delay.
Audit existing user accounts and revoke unnecessary privileges to reduce the population of users who could exploit the flaw.
Rotate credentials and session tokens for any account that interacted with the application during the exposure window.

Patch Information

SalesAgility released SuiteCRM 8.9.1 to fix the SQL injection. Administrators should apply the upgrade according to the official upgrade procedure. Full advisory details are available in the SuiteCRM GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-54m4-4p54-j8hp.

Workarounds

Restrict network access to SuiteCRM to trusted networks or VPN users until the patch is deployed.
Deploy WAF signatures that block known SQL injection payloads, including time-delay functions, against SuiteCRM endpoints.
Enforce strong authentication and disable inactive accounts to reduce the attack surface available to authenticated adversaries.

bash

# Upgrade SuiteCRM to the patched release
cd /path/to/suitecrm
php bin/console suitecrm:app:maintenance-mode on
git fetch --tags
git checkout v8.9.1
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
php bin/console cache:clear
php bin/console suitecrm:app:maintenance-mode off