CVE-2025-9024: Beauty Parlour Management System SQLi Flaw

CVE-2025-9024 Overview

A SQL injection vulnerability has been identified in PHPGurukul Beauty Parlour Management System version 1.1. The vulnerability exists in the /book-appointment.php file where the Message argument is improperly handled, allowing attackers to inject malicious SQL commands. This flaw can be exploited remotely without authentication, potentially enabling unauthorized database access, data manipulation, or information disclosure.

Critical Impact

Remote attackers can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability to manipulate database queries, potentially extracting sensitive customer data, modifying appointment records, or compromising the integrity of the beauty parlour management system.

Affected Products

• PHPGurukul Beauty Parlour Management System 1.1

Discovery Timeline

• August 15, 2025 - CVE-2025-9024 published to NVD
• August 21, 2025 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-9024

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL injection vulnerability occurs in the appointment booking functionality of the Beauty Parlour Management System. The /book-appointment.php endpoint accepts user-supplied input through the Message parameter without proper sanitization or parameterized query implementation. When processing appointment booking requests, the application directly concatenates user input into SQL queries, creating an injection point that attackers can exploit to execute arbitrary SQL commands against the backend database.

The vulnerability is classified under CWE-74 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component), commonly referred to as injection vulnerabilities. Since the attack vector is network-based and requires no authentication or user interaction, any remote attacker can target publicly accessible installations of this system.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is the failure to implement proper input validation and parameterized queries in the /book-appointment.php file. The Message parameter is directly incorporated into SQL statements without escaping special characters or using prepared statements. This is a common security oversight in PHP applications where user input is trusted and concatenated into database queries, allowing attackers to break out of the intended query structure and inject their own SQL commands.

Attack Vector

The attack can be launched remotely by submitting a malicious payload through the Message field in the appointment booking form. An attacker would craft a specially formatted input string containing SQL syntax that, when processed by the vulnerable code, modifies the intended database query. The exploit has been publicly disclosed, increasing the risk of exploitation in the wild.

The attacker does not require any authentication or special privileges to exploit this vulnerability. By simply accessing the public-facing appointment booking page and submitting a crafted request with SQL injection payloads in the Message field, an attacker can potentially extract database contents, modify records, or perform other unauthorized database operations depending on the database user's privileges.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-9024

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual or malformed entries in the Message field of appointment records containing SQL syntax such as single quotes, UNION statements, or comment sequences
• Database query errors or exceptions in application logs related to /book-appointment.php
• Unexpected database queries or access patterns from the web application user account
• Evidence of data exfiltration or unauthorized SELECT queries in database audit logs

Detection Strategies

• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block common SQL injection patterns in HTTP POST requests to /book-appointment.php
• Monitor application logs for SQL syntax errors or database exceptions that may indicate injection attempts
• Deploy intrusion detection systems configured with signatures for SQL injection attack patterns
• Review database audit logs for anomalous query patterns or unauthorized data access

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed logging for all requests to /book-appointment.php including full POST body content
• Configure database auditing to track all queries executed by the web application
• Set up alerts for multiple failed database queries or syntax errors from the appointment booking endpoint
• Monitor for unusual outbound traffic that could indicate data exfiltration following successful exploitation

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-9024

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict public access to the /book-appointment.php endpoint until a patch is available or input validation is implemented
• Implement a Web Application Firewall with SQL injection protection rules in front of the application
• Review database user privileges and apply the principle of least privilege to limit potential damage from successful exploitation
• Back up all database content and monitor for any unauthorized changes

Patch Information

No official patch information is available from the vendor at this time. Organizations using PHPGurukul Beauty Parlour Management System should monitor the PHP Gurukul website for security updates. Additional technical details about this vulnerability can be found in the GitHub Issue Tracker and VulDB #320089.

Workarounds

• Implement server-side input validation to sanitize the Message parameter, rejecting or escaping SQL special characters such as single quotes, double quotes, and comment sequences
• Modify the vulnerable code to use prepared statements with parameterized queries instead of string concatenation
• Deploy a WAF rule to block requests containing SQL injection patterns in the Message parameter
• Temporarily disable the online appointment booking functionality until proper security controls are in place
• Consider implementing CAPTCHA and rate limiting to reduce automated exploitation attempts

# Example Apache mod_security rule to block SQL injection attempts
SecRule REQUEST_URI "/book-appointment.php" \
    "id:1001,phase:2,deny,status:403,\
    chain"
SecRule ARGS:Message "@rx (?i)(union|select|insert|update|delete|drop|--|;)" \
    "t:none,t:urlDecodeUni,t:htmlEntityDecode,\
    msg:'SQL Injection attempt blocked in Message parameter'"