CVE-2026-6142: Hotel Management System SQLi Vulnerability

CVE-2026-6142 Overview

A SQL injection vulnerability has been identified in the tushar-2223 Hotel Management System, specifically affecting the /admin/roomdelete.php file. The vulnerability exists due to improper handling of the ID parameter, allowing attackers to inject malicious SQL commands. This flaw enables remote attackers to manipulate database queries, potentially leading to unauthorized data access, modification, or deletion.

Critical Impact

Remote attackers can exploit this SQL injection vulnerability to extract sensitive hotel and guest data, modify database records, or potentially gain further access to backend systems through database exploitation techniques.

Affected Products

• tushar-2223 Hotel Management System (up to commit bb1f3b3666124b888f1e4bcf51b6fba9fbb01d15)
• Installations using the vulnerable /admin/roomdelete.php endpoint
• All deployments without input sanitization on the ID parameter

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-04-13 - CVE-2026-6142 published to NVD
• 2026-04-13 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-6142

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability falls under CWE-74 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component), commonly referred to as injection vulnerabilities. The Hotel Management System fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input in the ID parameter of the /admin/roomdelete.php file before incorporating it into SQL queries.

The attack is network-accessible, requiring no authentication or user interaction, which significantly broadens the potential attack surface. The vulnerability has been publicly disclosed with a proof-of-concept available, increasing the likelihood of exploitation attempts in the wild. The project maintainer was notified through a GitHub issue but has not yet responded.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is insufficient input validation and the lack of parameterized queries or prepared statements in the affected PHP file. When user input is directly concatenated into SQL queries without proper sanitization, it allows attackers to break out of the intended query structure and inject arbitrary SQL commands. This is a classic example of trusting user input without proper validation.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based, allowing remote exploitation without requiring any authentication or user interaction. An attacker can craft malicious HTTP requests targeting the /admin/roomdelete.php endpoint with a specially crafted ID parameter containing SQL injection payloads.

The exploitation technique involves manipulating the ID parameter to inject SQL syntax that alters the query logic. Common attack patterns include UNION-based injection to extract data from other tables, boolean-based blind injection to infer database contents, and time-based blind injection using database sleep functions. A proof-of-concept exploit has been published demonstrating this attack.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-6142

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual HTTP requests to /admin/roomdelete.php containing SQL keywords in the ID parameter (e.g., UNION, SELECT, OR 1=1, --)
• Database error messages appearing in web server logs indicating malformed queries
• Unexpected database query patterns or access to tables outside normal application scope
• Evidence of data exfiltration or unauthorized modifications in database audit logs

Detection Strategies

• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block SQL injection patterns in request parameters
• Enable database query logging and monitor for anomalous queries containing injection signatures
• Deploy endpoint detection solutions capable of identifying web shell uploads or post-exploitation activity
• Configure intrusion detection systems (IDS) to alert on SQL injection attack patterns in HTTP traffic

Monitoring Recommendations

• Monitor web server access logs for requests to /admin/roomdelete.php with suspicious parameter values
• Set up alerts for database errors that may indicate injection attempts
• Track failed and successful database authentication attempts from the web application
• Implement real-time monitoring of database query execution times to detect time-based injection attacks

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-6142

Immediate Actions Required

• Restrict access to the /admin/roomdelete.php endpoint using IP whitelisting or additional authentication
• Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with SQL injection protection rules
• Review and audit all administrative endpoints for similar input validation vulnerabilities
• Consider temporarily disabling the affected functionality until a patch is available

Patch Information

As of the last update, no official patch has been released by the project maintainer. The project follows a rolling release approach without version tags, making traditional version-based patching unavailable. The vulnerability was reported through a GitHub issue, but the maintainer has not responded. Organizations using this software should implement manual code fixes or consider alternative solutions.

For technical details and additional context, refer to the VulDB vulnerability entry.

Workarounds

• Implement prepared statements with parameterized queries in the /admin/roomdelete.php file to prevent SQL injection
• Add input validation to ensure the ID parameter contains only numeric values before processing
• Apply the principle of least privilege to database accounts used by the web application
• Consider forking the repository and implementing security fixes if the maintainer remains unresponsive

# Example: Restrict access to admin directory via Apache .htaccess
# Add to /admin/.htaccess file
<Files "roomdelete.php">
    Order Deny,Allow
    Deny from all
    Allow from 192.168.1.0/24
    # Replace with your trusted IP range
</Files>