CVE-2026-3150: College Management System SQL Injection Flaw

CVE-2026-3150 Overview

A SQL injection vulnerability has been identified in itsourcecode College Management System version 1.0. This security flaw affects the /admin/display-teacher.php file, where improper handling of the teacher_id parameter allows attackers to inject malicious SQL queries. The vulnerability can be exploited remotely by authenticated users, potentially leading to unauthorized data access, modification, or deletion within the application's database.

Critical Impact

Remote attackers with low privileges can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability to manipulate database queries, potentially accessing sensitive student and faculty data, bypassing authentication controls, or compromising the entire database backend.

Affected Products

• angeljudesuarez college_management_system version 1.0

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-02-25 - CVE CVE-2026-3150 published to NVD
• 2026-02-25 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-3150

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL injection vulnerability exists due to insufficient input validation in the College Management System's administrative interface. The /admin/display-teacher.php endpoint accepts a teacher_id parameter that is directly incorporated into SQL queries without proper sanitization or parameterization. This classic injection flaw allows attackers to modify the intended query structure by supplying specially crafted input containing SQL syntax.

The vulnerability is classified under CWE-89 (SQL Injection) and CWE-74 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component). The attack can be carried out remotely over the network, requiring only low-level authentication to access the vulnerable administrative endpoint.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is the direct concatenation of user-supplied input into SQL queries without proper sanitization, escaping, or the use of parameterized queries (prepared statements). The teacher_id parameter is incorporated into database queries in a manner that allows an attacker to break out of the intended query context and inject arbitrary SQL commands. This represents a fundamental failure to implement secure coding practices for database interactions.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based, targeting the /admin/display-teacher.php endpoint. An attacker with valid credentials (low privilege requirement) can manipulate the teacher_id parameter to inject SQL commands. The exploitation does not require user interaction beyond the initial malicious request.

The attacker can craft requests containing SQL metacharacters and commands in the teacher_id parameter. For example, injecting a single quote followed by SQL statements could allow the attacker to terminate the original query and append additional commands, potentially extracting data using UNION-based techniques, performing blind SQL injection through time delays or boolean conditions, or executing administrative database operations.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-3150

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual or malformed requests to /admin/display-teacher.php containing SQL syntax in the teacher_id parameter
• Web server logs showing requests with single quotes, double dashes, semicolons, or SQL keywords (UNION, SELECT, DROP) in query strings
• Database error messages exposed in HTTP responses indicating query syntax errors
• Unexpected database query patterns or elevated database activity from the web application user account

Detection Strategies

• Deploy Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block SQL injection patterns in requests to the College Management System
• Implement input validation logging to capture and alert on requests containing SQL metacharacters
• Configure database activity monitoring to detect anomalous query patterns, such as UNION-based attacks or stacked queries
• Enable detailed logging for the /admin/ directory and establish alerting for suspicious parameter values

Monitoring Recommendations

• Monitor web application logs for repeated failed attempts to access /admin/display-teacher.php with varying teacher_id values
• Set up alerting for database errors originating from the web application, which may indicate active exploitation attempts
• Review database audit logs for unexpected data access patterns, particularly bulk data retrieval from teacher or student tables
• Track authentication events to identify potentially compromised accounts being used to access administrative endpoints

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-3150

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict access to the /admin/display-teacher.php endpoint to trusted IP addresses or implement additional authentication controls
• Deploy WAF rules specifically targeting SQL injection patterns for this endpoint
• Review user accounts with administrative access and validate their legitimacy
• Implement input validation to reject teacher_id values containing non-numeric characters as an interim measure

Patch Information

As of the last modification date (2026-02-25), no official patch has been released by the vendor. Organizations using this software should monitor the GitHub Issue Discussion and ITSourceCode for updates regarding security fixes. The vulnerability details are tracked by VulDB #347658.

Given the public disclosure of this vulnerability and the availability of exploit information, organizations should prioritize implementing compensating controls until an official patch is available.

Workarounds

• Implement prepared statements (parameterized queries) in the vulnerable PHP file by modifying the code to use PDO or MySQLi with bound parameters
• Deploy a reverse proxy or WAF in front of the application with SQL injection detection rules enabled
• Restrict network access to the administrative interface using firewall rules or VPN requirements
• Consider temporarily disabling the /admin/display-teacher.php functionality if not critical to operations
• Apply the principle of least privilege to the database user account used by the application to limit potential damage from successful exploitation

# Example WAF rule to block SQL injection attempts (ModSecurity)
SecRule ARGS:teacher_id "@detectSQLi" \
    "id:100001,\
    phase:2,\
    deny,\
    status:403,\
    log,\
    msg:'SQL Injection attempt blocked in teacher_id parameter',\
    tag:'application-multi',\
    tag:'language-multi',\
    tag:'platform-multi',\
    tag:'attack-sqli'"