CVE-2026-38567: HireFlow SQL Injection Vulnerability

CVE-2026-38567 Overview

CVE-2026-38567 is a SQL injection vulnerability in HireFlow v1.2, an interview management system. The flaw exists in the /login and /search endpoints, which concatenate user-supplied input directly into SQL queries without parameterization. An unauthenticated attacker can bypass authentication using a crafted username such as admin'-- or extract the entire database contents through UNION-based injection against the /search endpoint. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-89 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command).

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can bypass login and exfiltrate stored credentials and sensitive application data from the backend database.

Affected Products

• HireFlow v1.2 (Complete Interview Management System)
• /login endpoint authentication handler
• /search endpoint query handler

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-05-11 - CVE-2026-38567 published to NVD
• 2026-05-12 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-38567

Vulnerability Analysis

HireFlow v1.2 builds SQL statements by string concatenation using raw HTTP request parameters. The /login endpoint inserts the submitted username and password directly into an authentication query. Supplying a username such as admin'-- truncates the query before the password check, returning the administrative account row and bypassing authentication entirely.

The /search endpoint exhibits the same defect on a SELECT statement that returns matching records. Because the query is built dynamically and the response reflects result data, an attacker can append a UNION SELECT clause to retrieve arbitrary tables. This includes the users table containing usernames and stored credentials.

The attack requires no authentication, no user interaction, and is reachable over the network against any exposed HireFlow instance. Exploitation provides both confidentiality and integrity impact, since the same primitive supports UPDATE/INSERT-based payloads through stacked queries depending on backend driver configuration.

Root Cause

The root cause is the absence of parameterized queries or prepared statements. Input from request fields is interpolated into SQL strings without escaping, type enforcement, or allowlist validation. No server-side input sanitization or web application firewall logic is present in the application code.

Attack Vector

An attacker sends an HTTP POST or GET request to /login or /search containing SQL metacharacters in the user-controlled parameters. For authentication bypass, the payload admin'-- in the username field comments out the password comparison. For data extraction, a UNION-based payload against /search returns query results in the HTTP response body, enabling enumeration of schema and rows. Public proof-of-concept material is available in the GitHub CVE-2026-38567 Disclosure and the GitHub PoC Repository.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-38567

Indicators of Compromise

• Web server access logs containing SQL metacharacters such as '--, ' OR 1=1, or UNION SELECT in requests to /login or /search.
• Authentication success events for the admin account without a corresponding valid password submission.
• Anomalous response sizes from /search indicating bulk row extraction.
• Database error messages returned in HTTP responses referencing syntax errors near unexpected tokens.

Detection Strategies

• Deploy a web application firewall rule set that flags SQL injection signatures targeting the /login and /search paths.
• Enable database query logging and alert on queries containing multiple UNION clauses or trailing comment sequences originating from the HireFlow application user.
• Correlate failed-then-successful login sequences for the same source IP against /login payload contents.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Monitor outbound data volumes from the HireFlow database host for spikes consistent with mass record extraction.
• Track unique source IPs issuing high request rates to /search with parameter values exceeding normal length.
• Review application logs for stack traces or SQL exceptions that suggest probing activity.

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-38567

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict network access to HireFlow instances to trusted networks or place the application behind an authenticated reverse proxy until a patched build is deployed.
• Rotate all credentials stored in the HireFlow database, including administrative accounts, because they must be treated as compromised.
• Audit the database for unauthorized accounts, modified records, or unexpected schema changes.

Patch Information

No official vendor patch is referenced in the NVD entry at publication. Operators should track the GitHub PoC Repository and the SourceCodester Project Overview for upstream fixes, and replace vulnerable query construction with parameterized statements in the /login and /search handlers.

Workarounds

• Refactor all database access in HireFlow to use parameterized queries or an ORM that binds parameters by default.
• Apply server-side input validation that rejects SQL metacharacters in authentication and search parameters.
• Deploy WAF signatures for SQL injection and enable rate limiting on /login and /search endpoints.
• Run the application database account with least-privilege permissions, removing FILE, DDL, and cross-database access rights.

# Example WAF rule (ModSecurity) blocking SQLi patterns on vulnerable endpoints
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@rx ^/(login|search)" \
  "phase:2,deny,status:403,id:1026038567,\
   chain,msg:'CVE-2026-38567 HireFlow SQLi attempt'"
  SecRule ARGS "@rx (?i)(\b(union(\s+all)?\s+select|or\s+1=1|--|;)\b|')" \
    "t:none,t:urlDecodeUni"