CVE-2026-15523: Simple Online Leave Management SQL Injection

CVE-2026-15523 Overview

CVE-2026-15523 is a SQL injection vulnerability in CodeAstro Simple Online Leave Management System 1.0. The flaw resides in the /SimpleOnlineLeave/admin/dashboard.php script, where the Name parameter is passed to a database query without proper sanitization. Authenticated remote attackers can manipulate this argument to alter SQL statements executed by the application. The issue is classified under [CWE-74] (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component). Public exploit details have been disclosed, increasing the likelihood of opportunistic attacks against exposed installations.

Critical Impact
Remote attackers with low privileges can inject arbitrary SQL through the Name parameter, exposing or modifying administrative data stored in the leave management database.

Affected Products

CodeAstro Simple Online Leave Management System 1.0
Deployments exposing /SimpleOnlineLeave/admin/dashboard.php
Environments running the vulnerable PHP application without input filtering

Discovery Timeline

2026-07-13 - CVE-2026-15523 published to the National Vulnerability Database
2026-07-14 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-15523

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability exists in the administrative dashboard component of Simple Online Leave Management System 1.0. The dashboard.php script accepts a Name argument and incorporates it into a SQL query without parameterized statements or input validation. An attacker who supplies specially crafted values can break out of the intended query context and inject additional SQL clauses.

Because the endpoint is reachable over the network and requires only low-level authentication, exploitation is straightforward once credentials or a valid session are obtained. The confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact is limited to low, reflecting the constrained scope of data reachable through the affected query. However, an exploit has been made publicly available, which lowers the barrier for reuse in mass scans.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper neutralization of special elements in the Name parameter before it is concatenated into a SQL statement. The application does not use prepared statements with bound parameters, nor does it escape metacharacters such as single quotes, semicolons, or SQL comment sequences. This aligns with [CWE-74], a broad injection weakness class covering unsafe passthrough of untrusted data into downstream interpreters.

Attack Vector

Exploitation occurs remotely over HTTP against the administrative dashboard. An attacker authenticates to the application with any valid low-privileged account, then submits a crafted Name value to /SimpleOnlineLeave/admin/dashboard.php. The malicious payload alters the SQL query executed against the backend database, enabling data extraction, boolean-based inference, or minor modification of records reachable by the query. No user interaction is required beyond the attacker's own request. See the GitHub Issue for CVE-2026-15523 and the VulDB CVE-2026-15523 Details for technical references.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-15523

Indicators of Compromise

HTTP requests to /SimpleOnlineLeave/admin/dashboard.php containing SQL metacharacters such as ', --, UNION, or SLEEP( in the Name parameter.
Web server logs showing repeated dashboard.php requests from a single source with varying Name values, consistent with automated SQLi tooling.
Unexpected database errors or long response times originating from the leave management database during administrative sessions.

Detection Strategies

Deploy web application firewall (WAF) signatures for SQL injection patterns targeting the Name parameter on dashboard.php.
Enable verbose query logging on the backend database and alert on syntactically malformed statements sourced from the application account.
Correlate administrative login events with anomalous parameter payloads to identify credential abuse combined with injection attempts.

Monitoring Recommendations

Monitor authentication logs for administrative accounts issuing high volumes of dashboard.php requests.
Track outbound data volumes from the application host to detect bulk extraction of database rows.
Review VulDB and vendor channels such as CodeAstro Security Resources for updated fix guidance.

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-15523

Immediate Actions Required

Restrict network access to /SimpleOnlineLeave/admin/ to trusted management networks or VPN users only.
Rotate administrative credentials and enforce strong password policies to raise the bar for the low-privilege prerequisite.
Deploy WAF rules that block SQL metacharacters in the Name parameter until a code-level fix is applied.

Patch Information

No official vendor patch is referenced in the NVD entry at the time of publication. Administrators should monitor CodeAstro Security Resources and the VulDB Vulnerability #377852 tracker for remediation updates. Where source code is available, developers should replace concatenated SQL with parameterized queries or prepared statements and apply strict allow-list validation to the Name argument.

Workarounds

Apply server-side input validation that rejects any Name value containing SQL metacharacters or exceeding expected length.
Configure the database account used by the application with least-privilege permissions, limiting SELECT, INSERT, and UPDATE scope.
Isolate the application behind a reverse proxy that inspects and normalizes HTTP parameters before forwarding requests.

bash

# Example ModSecurity rule to block SQL metacharacters in the Name parameter
SecRule ARGS:Name "@rx (['\";]|--|\b(UNION|SELECT|SLEEP|BENCHMARK)\b)" \
    "id:1015523,phase:2,deny,status:403,\
    msg:'Potential SQLi against CVE-2026-15523 in dashboard.php',\
    logdata:'Name=%{ARGS.Name}'"