CVE-2025-6476: Gym Management System CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2025-6476 Overview

CVE-2025-6476 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability affecting SourceCodester Gym Management System version 1.0, developed by oretnom23. The flaw resides in an unspecified function of the application and allows attackers to trick authenticated users into submitting unwanted state-changing requests. The exploit vector is remote and requires user interaction, such as visiting a malicious page while logged into the application. Public disclosure has occurred through VulDB and a GitHub issue, meaning attackers already have access to the technical description. The vulnerability is tracked under CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery.

Critical Impact
Attackers can force authenticated administrators or users to execute unintended actions in the Gym Management System, potentially modifying application data without consent.

Affected Products

SourceCodester Gym Management System 1.0
oretnom23:gym_management_system:1.0
Deployments distributed through the SourceCodester project repository

Discovery Timeline

2025-06-22 - CVE-2025-6476 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-6476

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a classic Cross-Site Request Forgery weakness in the Gym Management System web application. State-changing HTTP endpoints in the application do not verify that the request originated from a legitimate user session within the application context. Because the application relies on ambient session cookies for authentication, a browser will automatically attach those cookies to any request an attacker forges from an external origin. An attacker hosting a crafted page can therefore cause a victim's browser to issue an authenticated request on their behalf. The public disclosure at the GitHub issue thread and VulDB entry 313584 provide additional context on the affected function.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing anti-CSRF protection on state-changing endpoints. The application does not implement per-session synchronizer tokens, does not validate the Origin or Referer headers, and does not set the SameSite attribute on session cookies. Without these controls, the server cannot distinguish between a legitimate user-initiated request and a cross-origin request forged by an attacker.

Attack Vector

Exploitation is performed over the network and requires user interaction. An attacker crafts a webpage containing an auto-submitting HTML form or JavaScript that targets a sensitive endpoint of the Gym Management System. When an authenticated user visits the attacker's page, the browser silently submits the forged request using the victim's session cookies. Depending on the targeted endpoint, the attacker can modify member records, alter account settings, or trigger administrative actions. The impact is limited to integrity of application data, with no direct confidentiality or availability effect.

The vulnerability manifests in the application's request handling logic where CSRF tokens are absent. See the VulDB advisory for technical details on the exploited function.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-6476

Indicators of Compromise

Application requests arriving with Referer or Origin headers pointing to unrelated external domains
Sudden bursts of state-changing POST requests to Gym Management System endpoints originating from a single authenticated session
Unexpected modifications to member, trainer, or administrator records without corresponding user activity logs

Detection Strategies

Inspect web server access logs for state-changing requests where the Referer header is missing or points to a third-party domain
Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule that flags requests to sensitive endpoints lacking a valid anti-CSRF token
Correlate authentication session activity with request origins to identify anomalous cross-origin behavior

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable verbose HTTP request logging on the application server, including full Referer and Origin headers
Forward web application logs to a central SIEM for correlation and long-term retention
Alert on administrative actions performed outside expected working hours or from unusual user agent strings

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-6476

Immediate Actions Required

Restrict access to the Gym Management System to trusted networks or behind a VPN until a fix is available
Instruct administrators to log out of the application immediately after use and avoid browsing untrusted sites in the same session
Deploy a WAF rule that requires a valid Referer header matching the application host for all state-changing requests

Patch Information

No official vendor patch has been published for SourceCodester Gym Management System 1.0 at the time of this writing. Consult the SourceCodester project page and the public CVE discussion for updates. Organizations maintaining forks of the codebase should implement synchronizer token pattern protection on all forms and state-changing endpoints.

Workarounds

Add server-side CSRF token validation to every POST, PUT, and DELETE endpoint in the application
Set the session cookie SameSite attribute to Strict or Lax to block cross-site cookie transmission
Validate the Origin and Referer headers on the server side and reject requests from unexpected origins
Consider retiring the application in production environments given its status as an unmaintained sample project

bash

# Example: Apache mod_headers configuration to enforce SameSite on session cookies
Header edit Set-Cookie ^(PHPSESSID=.*)$ "$1; SameSite=Strict; Secure; HttpOnly"

# Example: Referer validation snippet (PHP)
if (!isset($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']) ||
    parse_url($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'], PHP_URL_HOST) !== $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']) {
    http_response_code(403);
    exit('Invalid request origin');
}