CVE-2025-9839: Student Information Management SQL Injection

CVE-2025-9839 Overview

A SQL injection vulnerability has been discovered in itsourcecode Student Information Management System 1.0. The vulnerability exists in the file /admin/modules/course/index.php, where manipulation of the ID argument allows attackers to inject malicious SQL commands. This flaw can be exploited remotely without authentication, potentially allowing unauthorized access to the underlying database, data exfiltration, or modification of sensitive student records.

Critical Impact

Remote SQL injection vulnerability in a student information management system that could expose sensitive student data, academic records, and administrative credentials to unauthorized attackers.

Affected Products

• itsourcecode Student Information Management System 1.0

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-09-02 - CVE-2025-9839 published to NVD
• 2025-09-05 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-9839

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL injection vulnerability affects the course management module of the Student Information Management System. The vulnerable endpoint at /admin/modules/course/index.php fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input passed through the ID parameter before incorporating it into SQL queries. This lack of input validation creates a classic SQL injection attack surface that can be exploited by crafting malicious requests containing SQL syntax.

The exploit has been publicly disclosed, which significantly increases the risk of active exploitation. Student Information Management Systems typically contain highly sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) including student names, addresses, grades, financial aid information, and potentially social security numbers, making this vulnerability particularly concerning from a data privacy perspective.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is improper input validation (CWE-89: SQL Injection, CWE-74: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component). The application fails to sanitize user-controlled input in the ID parameter before using it in database queries. Without proper parameterized queries or prepared statements, user input is directly concatenated into SQL statements, allowing attackers to manipulate the query logic.

Attack Vector

The attack can be executed remotely over the network by sending specially crafted HTTP requests to the vulnerable endpoint. An attacker does not require any authentication or special privileges to exploit this vulnerability. By manipulating the ID parameter in requests to /admin/modules/course/index.php, an attacker can inject arbitrary SQL commands that will be executed by the database server.

The exploitation mechanism involves appending or modifying SQL syntax within the ID parameter. Depending on the database configuration and application architecture, successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized data access, data modification, privilege escalation within the application, or potentially command execution on the underlying server.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-9839

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual or malformed requests to /admin/modules/course/index.php containing SQL syntax characters such as single quotes, semicolons, UNION, SELECT, or comment sequences
• Database error messages appearing in application logs or HTTP responses indicating SQL syntax errors
• Unexpected database queries or data access patterns in database audit logs
• Evidence of data exfiltration or unauthorized bulk data access to student records

Detection Strategies

• Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block SQL injection patterns targeting the /admin/modules/course/index.php endpoint
• Enable detailed logging on the web server and database to capture all requests and queries for forensic analysis
• Deploy intrusion detection systems (IDS) with signatures for common SQL injection attack patterns
• Monitor for anomalous database query patterns or unexpected data access volumes

Monitoring Recommendations

• Configure alerts for requests containing common SQL injection payloads targeting the course management module
• Establish baseline database query patterns and alert on deviations that may indicate injection attempts
• Review web server access logs regularly for suspicious parameter values in requests to the affected endpoint

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-9839

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict access to the /admin/modules/course/index.php endpoint to trusted IP addresses only
• Implement web application firewall rules to filter SQL injection patterns from the ID parameter
• Consider taking the affected application offline until a patch can be applied or code remediation is completed
• Review database logs for any evidence of prior exploitation attempts

Patch Information

No vendor-supplied patch information is currently available for this vulnerability. Organizations using itsourcecode Student Information Management System 1.0 should contact the vendor directly for remediation guidance or consider implementing manual code fixes to address the SQL injection vulnerability. For additional technical details, refer to the VulDB entry #322186 and the GitHub Issue CVE-3.

Workarounds

• Implement input validation on the ID parameter to accept only numeric values
• Use prepared statements or parameterized queries in the vulnerable PHP code
• Deploy a web application firewall configured to block SQL injection attempts
• Restrict network access to the administrative interface to authorized users only

# Example: Restrict access to admin module via .htaccess
<Files "index.php">
    # Allow only specific IP addresses
    Order Deny,Allow
    Deny from all
    Allow from 192.168.1.0/24
    Allow from 10.0.0.0/8
</Files>