CVE-2025-8239: Exam Form Submission SQL Injection Flaw

CVE-2025-8239 Overview

A critical SQL injection vulnerability has been identified in code-projects Exam Form Submission version 1.0. This vulnerability affects the admin login functionality located at /admin/, where the manipulation of the email argument enables SQL injection attacks. The vulnerability can be exploited remotely without authentication, allowing attackers to potentially access, modify, or delete sensitive data stored in the application's database.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability remotely to bypass authentication, extract sensitive information from the database, and potentially compromise the entire application.

Affected Products

• code-projects Exam Form Submission 1.0

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-07-27 - CVE CVE-2025-8239 published to NVD
• 2025-08-05 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-8239

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL injection vulnerability exists in the admin authentication mechanism of the Exam Form Submission application. The vulnerability stems from improper handling of user-supplied input in the email parameter on the /admin/ endpoint. When a user submits login credentials, the application directly incorporates the email value into a SQL query without proper sanitization or parameterized query usage.

The exploit has been publicly disclosed, increasing the risk of active exploitation in the wild. Since the vulnerability affects the administrative login page, successful exploitation could grant attackers full administrative access to the application, enabling them to view student records, modify exam submissions, or further compromise connected systems.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is classified under CWE-74 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component). The application fails to properly sanitize or validate the email input parameter before using it in SQL queries. This allows attackers to inject malicious SQL statements that are executed by the database, bypassing the intended authentication logic.

Attack Vector

The attack can be launched remotely over the network without requiring any authentication or user interaction. An attacker can craft a malicious HTTP request to the /admin/ endpoint with a specially crafted email parameter containing SQL injection payloads.

Typical exploitation involves sending requests with payloads such as ' OR '1'='1' -- in the email field, which would manipulate the SQL query logic to return true for authentication checks. More sophisticated attacks could extract database contents using UNION-based or time-based blind SQL injection techniques.

For detailed technical information about the exploitation mechanism, refer to the GitHub Issue Discussion and VulDB #317827 Details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-8239

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual login attempts to /admin/ with malformed or suspicious email values containing SQL syntax characters such as single quotes, double dashes, or SQL keywords
• Database error messages appearing in application logs indicating syntax errors or unexpected query behavior
• Unexpected database queries or access patterns, particularly those attempting to extract schema information or data from multiple tables
• Evidence of authentication bypass where admin access was gained without valid credentials

Detection Strategies

• Deploy Web Application Firewalls (WAF) configured with SQL injection detection rules to inspect and block malicious requests targeting the /admin/ endpoint
• Implement application-level logging that captures all authentication attempts, including the full request parameters, and alert on anomalous patterns
• Monitor database query logs for suspicious queries containing SQL injection patterns or unexpected UNION SELECT statements
• Use SentinelOne Singularity XDR to detect and correlate suspicious web application behavior with endpoint activity

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed access logging on the web server to capture all requests to the /admin/ path and associated parameters
• Set up real-time alerting for multiple failed authentication attempts or requests containing known SQL injection patterns
• Regularly audit database access logs for unauthorized data extraction or schema enumeration activities

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-8239

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict access to the /admin/ endpoint using IP whitelisting or VPN requirements to limit exposure
• Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block requests containing SQL injection payloads in the email parameter
• If the application is not critical, consider taking it offline until a proper fix can be implemented
• Review application logs for any evidence of prior exploitation attempts

Patch Information

No official vendor patch has been identified for this vulnerability. Organizations using code-projects Exam Form Submission 1.0 should consider the following options:

• Contact the vendor through Code Projects Resource Hub for patch availability
• Apply input validation and parameterized queries as a code-level fix if source code access is available
• Consider migrating to a more secure exam management solution if no patch is forthcoming

Workarounds

• Implement server-side input validation to reject email inputs containing SQL special characters or keywords
• Use parameterized queries (prepared statements) in the application code to prevent SQL injection
• Deploy network-level controls to restrict administrative access to trusted IP addresses only
• Enable database auditing to detect and alert on suspicious query patterns

# Example Apache mod_security rule to block SQL injection in email parameter
SecRule ARGS:email "@rx (?i)(\b(select|insert|update|delete|drop|union|exec|execute)\b|--|;|')" \
    "id:1001,phase:2,deny,status:403,msg:'SQL Injection attempt blocked in email parameter'"