CVE-2025-7167: Responsive Blog Site SQL Injection Flaw

CVE-2025-7167 is a critical SQL injection vulnerability in Fabian Responsive Blog Site 1.0 affecting the /category.php file. Attackers can exploit the ID parameter remotely to inject malicious SQL queries. This article covers technical details, affected versions, impact assessment, and mitigation strategies.

CVE-2025-7167 Overview

CVE-2025-7167 is a SQL injection vulnerability in code-projects Responsive Blog Site 1.0, developed by Fabian. The flaw resides in the /category.php script, where the ID parameter is passed directly into a database query without proper sanitization. Attackers can manipulate this parameter to inject arbitrary SQL statements. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable and requires low privileges. Public disclosure of the exploit technique has already occurred, increasing the risk of opportunistic attacks against unpatched deployments. This weakness is classified under CWE-74 as improper neutralization of special elements in output used by a downstream component.

Critical Impact
Remote attackers with low privileges can inject SQL statements through the ID parameter in /category.php, potentially exposing or modifying blog database contents.

Affected Products

Fabian Responsive Blog Site 1.0
Component: /category.php
CPE: cpe:2.3:a:fabian:responsive_blog_site:1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Discovery Timeline

2025-07-08 - CVE-2025-7167 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-7167

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability affects the category listing functionality of Responsive Blog Site 1.0. The /category.php endpoint accepts an ID query parameter that identifies which blog category to display. The application concatenates this parameter directly into an SQL query sent to the backend database. An attacker supplying crafted input can break out of the intended query context and append arbitrary SQL clauses.

Exploitation requires only network access to the vulnerable web application and low-level privileges. No user interaction is needed. The EPSS score is 0.318% with a percentile of 23.47, reflecting a moderate baseline probability of exploitation attempts in the near term. Because Responsive Blog Site is distributed as an open educational project, patches are unlikely to be issued through a formal vendor channel.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing input validation and parameterization on the ID argument received by /category.php. The application does not use prepared statements or bound parameters when constructing the SQL query. As a result, characters such as single quotes, UNION, and comment sequences flow untrusted into the query string.

Attack Vector

An attacker sends a crafted HTTP request such as GET /category.php?ID=1' UNION SELECT ...-- to the target host. The injected payload can enumerate database tables, extract credentials, or modify records. Because the exploit has been disclosed publicly through the GitHub CVE Issue Discussion and VulDB #315106, automated scanners can quickly weaponize the technique against exposed instances.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-7167

Indicators of Compromise

HTTP requests to /category.php containing SQL metacharacters such as single quotes, UNION SELECT, --, /*, or sleep( in the ID parameter.
Web server access logs showing abnormally long or URL-encoded ID values sent to /category.php.
Unexpected database errors or stack traces returned in HTTP responses from the blog application.

Detection Strategies

Deploy web application firewall (WAF) rules that inspect the ID parameter for SQL injection signatures on requests to /category.php.
Enable database query logging to identify malformed queries originating from the blog application.
Correlate anomalous outbound traffic from the database host with inbound HTTP requests to the vulnerable endpoint.

Monitoring Recommendations

Monitor for repeated 500-level HTTP responses from /category.php, which often indicate injection probing.
Alert on database read operations returning unusually large result sets tied to the blog application user.
Track authentication events for the database account used by the web application to detect credential misuse following a successful injection.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-7167

Immediate Actions Required

Restrict public access to Responsive Blog Site 1.0 instances until a fix is applied, using network ACLs or reverse proxy authentication.
Apply input validation on the ID parameter, allowing only integer values before the query executes.
Rewrite the affected query in /category.php to use prepared statements with parameter binding.

Patch Information

No official vendor patch has been published for Responsive Blog Site 1.0 at the time of NVD disclosure. Administrators should review the VulDB advisory and the GitHub CVE Issue Discussion for community-supplied fixes. Because the project is distributed as source, operators must modify the vulnerable PHP code directly.

Workarounds

Cast the ID parameter to an integer with intval($_GET['ID']) before use in any query.
Deploy a WAF rule blocking SQL injection patterns targeting /category.php.
Apply least-privilege permissions to the database account used by the application, removing write and schema modification rights where possible.

bash

# Example nginx rule to block SQL metacharacters in the ID parameter
location /category.php {
    if ($arg_ID ~* "(\'|--|;|union|select|sleep|benchmark)") {
        return 403;
    }
}