CVE-2026-3486: College Management System SQLi Vulnerability

CVE-2026-3486 Overview

CVE-2026-3486 is a SQL injection vulnerability in itsourcecode College Management System 1.0. The flaw resides in the /admin/student-fee.php script, where the roll_no parameter is passed to a database query without proper sanitization. An authenticated attacker with high privileges can manipulate the roll_no argument to inject arbitrary SQL statements. The attack is exploitable remotely over the network, and the exploit details have been disclosed publicly. The vulnerability is tracked under CWE-89 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command) and CWE-74 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output).

Critical Impact
Authenticated attackers can inject SQL through the roll_no parameter in /admin/student-fee.php, exposing or modifying records in the college management database.

Affected Products

itsourcecode College Management System 1.0
Vendor: angeljudesuarez
CPE: cpe:2.3:a:angeljudesuarez:college_management_system:1.0

Discovery Timeline

2026-03-03 - CVE-2026-3486 published to NVD
2026-04-29 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-3486

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability exists in the administrative student fee management functionality of the College Management System. The /admin/student-fee.php endpoint accepts a roll_no argument supplied through an HTTP request. The application concatenates this user-supplied value directly into a SQL query without applying parameterized statements or input validation. Attackers with administrative access can submit crafted roll_no values that alter the structure of the underlying SQL statement. Successful exploitation results in unauthorized read or write access to records stored in the application database, including student fee records, account information, and other administrative data managed by the system.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper neutralization of special characters within the roll_no request parameter before it is included in a SQL query. The application does not use prepared statements with bound parameters, nor does it apply allow-list validation on the roll_no value. This classification matches CWE-89, a well-known SQL injection weakness pattern common to legacy PHP applications that rely on direct string concatenation when building queries.

Attack Vector

The attack requires network access to the application and authentication with high privileges, since the affected endpoint sits under the /admin/ path. An attacker submits a crafted value for the roll_no parameter, embedding SQL syntax such as UNION clauses, boolean conditions, or stacked queries. Because the exploit has been disclosed publicly through the GitHub Issue Discussion and indexed in VulDB #348561, attackers can replicate the technique without independent research. The vulnerability mechanism is documented in the public references; no synthetic exploit code is reproduced here.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-3486

Indicators of Compromise

HTTP requests to /admin/student-fee.php containing SQL metacharacters such as single quotes, UNION SELECT, --, or OR 1=1 within the roll_no parameter.
Web server access logs showing unusually long or URL-encoded roll_no values.
Unexpected database errors or anomalous response sizes from the student fee admin page.

Detection Strategies

Inspect web server and PHP error logs for SQL syntax errors originating from student-fee.php.
Deploy web application firewall (WAF) rules that flag SQL injection patterns targeting the roll_no parameter.
Correlate administrative authentication events with subsequent requests containing suspicious query strings.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable verbose query logging on the MySQL or MariaDB backend to capture queries originating from the application user.
Monitor for spikes in SELECT, UNION, or INFORMATION_SCHEMA queries tied to the student fee module.
Audit administrative account activity and review session logs for unfamiliar source IP addresses.

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-3486

Immediate Actions Required

Restrict network access to the /admin/ directory using IP allow-lists or VPN-only access.
Rotate all administrative credentials and enforce strong, unique passwords.
Review database audit logs for evidence of injection attempts or unauthorized data access.
Place the application behind a WAF configured with SQL injection signatures.

Patch Information

No vendor patch is currently listed in the available references for itsourcecode College Management System 1.0. Administrators should monitor the IT Source Code project page and the VulDB advisory for updates. Until a vendor fix is released, operators should apply source-level remediation by replacing concatenated SQL queries with parameterized statements using PDO or mysqli prepared statements, and by validating roll_no against a strict numeric pattern.

Workarounds

Modify /admin/student-fee.php to bind the roll_no parameter using prepared statements rather than string concatenation.
Add server-side input validation to ensure roll_no matches an expected numeric or alphanumeric pattern before it reaches the query layer.
Apply the principle of least privilege to the database account used by the application, removing write permissions where read-only access is sufficient.
Disable or remove the affected administrative module if it is not actively required in production.

bash

# Example WAF rule (ModSecurity) to block SQLi patterns in roll_no
SecRule ARGS:roll_no "@rx (?i)(union(\s|/\*.*\*/)+select|--|;|/\*|or\s+1=1|information_schema)" \
    "id:1026003486,phase:2,deny,status:403,msg:'Potential SQLi targeting CVE-2026-3486'"