CVE-2025-8972: Mayurik Tour Management System SQLi Flaw

CVE-2025-8972 Overview

A SQL injection vulnerability has been identified in itsourcecode Online Tour and Travel Management System version 1.0. This issue affects the processing of the file /admin/page-login.php, where manipulation of the email argument enables SQL injection attacks. The vulnerability can be exploited remotely without authentication, and exploit details have been publicly disclosed.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability remotely to potentially access, modify, or delete database contents, bypass authentication mechanisms, and compromise sensitive user data stored in the travel management system.

Affected Products

• Mayurik Online Tour & Travel Management System 1.0
• itsourcecode Online Tour and Travel Management System 1.0

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-08-14 - CVE-2025-8972 published to NVD
• 2025-08-18 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-8972

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL injection vulnerability exists in the administrative login functionality of the Online Tour and Travel Management System. The /admin/page-login.php endpoint fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input in the email parameter before incorporating it into SQL queries. This allows attackers to inject malicious SQL statements that are executed by the database server with the privileges of the application's database user.

The vulnerability is classified under CWE-74 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component), which encompasses injection flaws where user input is not properly validated before being used in interpreted contexts. In this case, the email field accepts arbitrary SQL syntax that breaks out of the intended query structure.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is improper input validation and the lack of parameterized queries in the authentication mechanism. The application directly concatenates user-supplied input from the email parameter into SQL statements without sanitization, escaping, or the use of prepared statements. This allows special SQL characters and keywords to be interpreted as part of the query structure rather than as literal data values.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based, requiring no authentication or user interaction. An attacker can craft a malicious HTTP request to the /admin/page-login.php endpoint with a specially crafted email parameter containing SQL injection payloads. The attack can be executed remotely against any publicly accessible instance of the vulnerable application.

Exploitation typically involves injecting SQL syntax such as single quotes, boolean-based payloads, or UNION-based queries to extract data, bypass authentication, or manipulate database contents. Since this affects the admin login page, successful exploitation could grant unauthorized administrative access to the entire travel management system.

For technical details regarding exploitation methodology, refer to the GitHub CVE Issue Discussion where the vulnerability was publicly disclosed.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-8972

Indicators of Compromise

• HTTP requests to /admin/page-login.php containing SQL metacharacters such as single quotes, double dashes, or semicolons in the email parameter
• Unusual database error messages in application logs indicating malformed SQL queries
• Authentication log entries showing successful admin logins from unexpected IP addresses or at unusual times
• Evidence of data exfiltration or unauthorized database queries in database audit logs

Detection Strategies

• Deploy Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block SQL injection patterns in POST requests to the admin login endpoint
• Monitor application logs for database error messages that may indicate injection attempts
• Implement database activity monitoring to detect anomalous queries or bulk data access
• Configure intrusion detection systems to alert on common SQL injection payload signatures

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed logging for the /admin/page-login.php endpoint to capture all authentication attempts
• Set up alerts for multiple failed login attempts followed by a successful login, which may indicate successful SQL injection authentication bypass
• Monitor database query logs for unusual SELECT, UNION, or INSERT statements originating from the web application
• Review access logs regularly for requests containing encoded or obfuscated SQL injection payloads

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-8972

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict access to the /admin/page-login.php endpoint via IP whitelisting or VPN requirements until patching is possible
• Deploy WAF rules to filter SQL injection attempts targeting the vulnerable parameter
• Consider temporarily disabling the affected admin login functionality if alternative administrative access methods exist
• Audit database and application logs to determine if the vulnerability has already been exploited

Patch Information

As of the last update on 2025-08-18, no official vendor patch has been released for this vulnerability. Organizations using the affected software should monitor the IT Source Code website for security updates. Additional technical information is available through VulDB #319967.

Workarounds

• Implement input validation at the application layer to reject email inputs containing SQL metacharacters
• Use parameterized queries or prepared statements when modifying the source code to handle authentication
• Deploy a reverse proxy or WAF in front of the application to sanitize malicious input before it reaches the vulnerable endpoint
• Apply network-level access controls to limit who can reach the administrative interface

# Example WAF rule to block basic SQL injection in email parameter
# ModSecurity rule example for Apache/Nginx
SecRule ARGS:email "@rx (?i)(\b(select|union|insert|update|delete|drop|alter|create|exec|execute|xp_|sp_|0x|1=1|or\s+1|and\s+1)\b|'|\"|;|--)" \
    "id:100001,phase:2,deny,status:403,msg:'SQL Injection attempt blocked in email parameter'"