CVE-2026-11531: Student Management System SQL Injection

CVE-2026-11531 Overview

CVE-2026-11531 is a SQL injection vulnerability in the imvks786 student_management_system project, affecting code up to commit 9599b560ad3c3b83e75d328b76bedcd489ef1f46. The flaw resides in the admin/admin_login.php file, which implements the Administrator Login Endpoint. Attackers can manipulate the a_usr and a_pwd request parameters to inject arbitrary SQL syntax into authentication queries. The project follows a rolling release strategy, so specific affected and fixed versions cannot be enumerated. Public exploit details have been released, and the maintainer has not yet responded to the upstream issue report.

Critical Impact
Unauthenticated remote attackers can inject SQL through the administrator login form, potentially extracting database contents or bypassing authentication.

Affected Products

imvks786/student_management_system repository up to commit 9599b560ad3c3b83e75d328b76bedcd489ef1f46
The admin/admin_login.php script (Administrator Login Endpoint)
All rolling release deployments tracking the affected commit range

Discovery Timeline

2026-06-08 - CVE-2026-11531 published to NVD
2026-06-09 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-11531

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is classified under [CWE-74] (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component). The admin/admin_login.php script accepts the a_usr and a_pwd parameters from client-supplied data and incorporates them into a backend SQL query without proper sanitization or parameterization. An attacker can supply crafted input that breaks out of the intended string context and alters query semantics. Because the endpoint handles administrator authentication, successful exploitation can yield administrative access to the application. The attack requires no prior authentication or user interaction and is reachable over the network.

Root Cause

The root cause is the direct concatenation of unsanitized user input into SQL statements within admin/admin_login.php. The application does not use prepared statements or parameterized queries for the a_usr and a_pwd parameters. Input validation and output neutralization for the SQL context are absent, allowing meta-characters to alter query structure.

Attack Vector

A remote attacker sends a crafted HTTP POST request to the admin/admin_login.php endpoint with malicious payloads in the a_usr or a_pwd form fields. Typical payloads close the surrounding quoted string, append a tautology, and comment out the remainder of the query. This can return a truthy result to the authentication routine or extract data through UNION-based or boolean-based techniques. The exploit has been released publicly. See the VulDB Vulnerability Details and the GitHub Issue Report for technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-11531

Indicators of Compromise

HTTP POST requests to admin/admin_login.php containing SQL meta-characters such as single quotes, --, #, UNION, or OR 1=1 in the a_usr or a_pwd parameters
Repeated failed administrator logins followed by a sudden successful login from the same source IP
Unexpected database error messages logged by the PHP application or the underlying MySQL/MariaDB instance
New or modified administrator records in the application database without corresponding legitimate activity

Detection Strategies

Deploy web application firewall (WAF) rules to flag SQL injection patterns targeting the admin_login.php path
Enable database query logging and alert on queries containing tautologies or stacked statements originating from the login flow
Correlate web server access logs with database audit logs to identify anomalous query patterns tied to login requests

Monitoring Recommendations

Monitor authentication telemetry for administrator sessions established from unfamiliar IP addresses or geolocations
Track outbound database response sizes from the login endpoint, as data exfiltration via SQL injection often produces atypical response volumes
Centralize web, application, and database logs in a SIEM and build correlation rules for SQL injection signatures against admin/admin_login.php

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-11531

Immediate Actions Required

Restrict network exposure of the admin/admin_login.php endpoint to trusted IP ranges or place it behind a VPN until a fix is available
Deploy WAF signatures that block SQL injection payloads in the a_usr and a_pwd parameters
Audit the application database for unauthorized administrator accounts and reset all administrator credentials
Review web server and database logs for prior exploitation attempts referencing the affected endpoint

Patch Information

No official patch has been released. The project uses a rolling release model, and the maintainer has not responded to the GitHub Issue Report. Operators should fork the GitHub Project Repository and apply a local fix by replacing concatenated SQL with parameterized queries using PHP PDO or mysqli prepared statements. Refer to the VulDB CVE Entry for tracking updates.

Workarounds

Apply an input allowlist on the login form to reject any non-alphanumeric characters in a_usr and a_pwd before they reach the database layer
Enforce server-side rate limiting and account lockout on the administrator login endpoint to slow automated exploitation
Run the database account used by the application with least privilege so that successful injection cannot reach unrelated schemas or system tables

bash

# Example ModSecurity rule to block common SQLi tokens against admin_login.php
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@endsWith /admin/admin_login.php" \
    "phase:2,deny,status:403,id:1026115310,\
     chain,msg:'Possible SQLi against admin_login.php (CVE-2026-11531)'"
    SecRule ARGS:a_usr|ARGS:a_pwd "@rx (?i)(\\b(union|select|or|and)\\b.*\\b(from|where|=)\\b|--|#|';)"