CVE-2026-37749: Simple Attendance System SQLi Flaw

CVE-2026-37749 Overview

A SQL injection vulnerability has been identified in CodeAstro Simple Attendance Management System v1.0 that allows remote unauthenticated attackers to bypass authentication via the username parameter in index.php. This vulnerability enables attackers to gain unauthorized access to the application without valid credentials, potentially compromising sensitive attendance data and administrative functions.

Critical Impact

Remote unauthenticated attackers can bypass authentication entirely, gaining full access to the attendance management system without any credentials. This could lead to complete system compromise, data theft, and manipulation of attendance records.

Affected Products

• CodeAstro Simple Attendance Management System v1.0

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-04-17 - CVE-2026-37749 published to NVD
• 2026-04-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-37749

Vulnerability Analysis

This SQL injection vulnerability (CWE-89: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command) exists in the authentication mechanism of the CodeAstro Simple Attendance Management System. The index.php login page fails to properly sanitize or parameterize user-supplied input in the username field before incorporating it into SQL queries.

When a user attempts to authenticate, the application constructs an SQL query using the provided username directly. Without proper input validation or prepared statements, an attacker can inject malicious SQL code that alters the query's logic. This allows the attacker to manipulate the authentication check, effectively telling the database to return a successful login regardless of whether valid credentials were provided.

The vulnerability is particularly severe because it requires no authentication to exploit—the attack occurs at the login page itself. Successful exploitation grants the attacker the same access level as a legitimate authenticated user, potentially including administrative privileges.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is improper input validation and the use of unsanitized user input in SQL query construction. The application fails to implement prepared statements or parameterized queries, allowing attacker-controlled data from the username parameter to be directly concatenated into the SQL authentication query. This lack of input sanitization enables SQL injection attacks that can bypass the authentication logic entirely.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based, requiring no authentication or user interaction. An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to the index.php login endpoint with a malicious payload in the username parameter. Common SQL injection payloads such as ' OR '1'='1 or similar boolean-based injection techniques can be used to manipulate the WHERE clause of the authentication query, causing it to always evaluate as true. This allows the attacker to bypass authentication and gain unauthorized access to the system from any network location that can reach the application.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-37749

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual login attempts with SQL syntax characters in the username field (single quotes, double dashes, OR statements)
• Successful logins from unexpected IP addresses or geographic locations
• Web server access logs showing requests to index.php with encoded or suspicious characters in POST data
• Database query logs containing malformed or unexpected SQL statements

Detection Strategies

• Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block common SQL injection patterns in login requests
• Monitor authentication logs for anomalous successful logins without corresponding valid credential usage
• Deploy intrusion detection systems (IDS) with signatures for SQL injection attack patterns
• Review web server logs for POST requests to index.php containing SQL metacharacters

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose logging for database queries to identify suspicious authentication attempts
• Set up alerts for multiple failed login attempts followed by a successful login from the same source
• Monitor for unauthorized changes to user accounts or attendance records following unusual authentication events
• Implement real-time alerting for any requests containing known SQL injection payloads

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-37749

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict network access to the attendance management system to trusted IP addresses only
• Implement a web application firewall (WAF) with SQL injection protection rules
• Consider taking the application offline until a patch is applied or code remediation is complete
• Review access logs for any evidence of prior exploitation

Patch Information

As of the last NVD update on 2026-04-17, no official patch has been announced by the vendor. Administrators should monitor the CodeAstro website for security updates and consider implementing manual code fixes to address the SQL injection vulnerability. For technical details about this vulnerability, refer to the GitHub repository for CVE-2026-37749.

Workarounds

• Implement input validation to reject SQL metacharacters in the username field
• Modify the authentication code to use prepared statements with parameterized queries
• Deploy a reverse proxy or WAF to filter malicious requests before they reach the application
• Restrict access to the login page using IP-based access controls or VPN requirements
• Consider disabling the application until proper remediation can be implemented

To remediate the SQL injection vulnerability, the authentication code should be refactored to use prepared statements. In PHP with MySQLi, this involves using mysqli_prepare() with placeholder parameters and mysqli_stmt_bind_param() to safely bind user input, preventing any injected SQL code from being executed as part of the query.