CVE-2026-96548: sfturing hosp_order Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2026-96548 Overview

CVE-2026-96548 is a hard-coded credentials weakness [CWE-259] in the sfturing hosp_order project, a hospital order management application distributed on GitHub. The flaw resides in the ssm_pro/src/main/resources/jdbc.properties file, which stores database credentials in plaintext within the source tree. An attacker who obtains a copy of the repository or deployed artifacts can read the embedded credentials and authenticate to the backend database. The project uses a rolling release model, so no fixed version numbers are published. The maintainer was notified through a GitHub issue but has not responded.

Critical Impact

Exposed database credentials in jdbc.properties allow remote attackers with knowledge of the deployment to authenticate directly to the backing database, undermining confidentiality, integrity, and availability of stored records.

Affected Products

• sfturing hosp_order (rolling release)
• Builds derived from commit 627f426331da8086ce8fff2017d65b1ddef384f8 and earlier
• Deployments packaging ssm_pro/src/main/resources/jdbc.properties without modification

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-09-23 - CVE-2026-96548 published to the National Vulnerability Database
• 2026-09-23 - Record last modified in NVD

Technical Details for CVE-2026-96548

Vulnerability Analysis

The hosp_order application ships a Spring/MyBatis configuration file, jdbc.properties, containing database connection strings, usernames, and passwords in cleartext. Because the file is committed to the public repository, anyone can retrieve the credentials without triggering any application-level authentication. The weakness is classified under [CWE-259] Use of Hard-coded Password.

Exploitation requires that the attacker reach the database endpoint referenced by the configuration. In deployments where the database is exposed to the network, or where the attacker already has a foothold in the same segment, the hard-coded credentials permit direct SQL access. Compromise of the database enables read and write access to hospital order data, including any personal or clinical fields the schema stores.

The attack complexity is rated as high because the attacker must correlate the leaked credentials with a reachable database instance. The published exploit path is straightforward once that mapping is known.

Root Cause

The root cause is embedding production-style credentials directly in a source-controlled properties file. There is no externalized secret store, no environment-variable indirection, and no encryption of the connection password. Every build produced from the affected commit inherits the same credential material.

Attack Vector

An unauthenticated remote actor inspects the hosp_order repository, extracts the credentials from ssm_pro/src/main/resources/jdbc.properties, and attempts to authenticate against the JDBC endpoint of any deployment reusing the default configuration. Successful authentication yields direct database access outside of the application's authorization controls. See the GitHub Issue #119 and the VulDB entry for CVE-2026-96548 for reference material.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-96548

Indicators of Compromise

• Database authentication events from unexpected source IP addresses using the account defined in jdbc.properties.
• Application logs showing successful JDBC connections outside of normal deployment hosts.
• Presence of the unmodified jdbc.properties file in production artifacts or container images.

Detection Strategies

• Scan source repositories, container images, and deployment bundles for the file path ssm_pro/src/main/resources/jdbc.properties and flag any embedded credentials.
• Correlate database audit logs with application server IP addresses to identify direct connections that bypass the application tier.
• Alert on repeated failed logins to the JDBC account, which often precede credential reuse attempts.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable database-side audit logging for the account referenced in the configuration file and forward events to a centralized log store.
• Monitor egress from application servers to the database port and alert on connections originating from unauthorized hosts.
• Track repository commits for changes to properties files containing secrets using pre-commit secret-scanning tooling.

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-96548

Immediate Actions Required

• Rotate the database credentials referenced by jdbc.properties on every deployment derived from the affected commit.
• Remove the credential values from source control history and replace them with placeholders or environment variable references.
• Restrict database network exposure so that only application hosts can reach the JDBC listener.

Patch Information

No vendor patch is available. The maintainer has not responded to the disclosure filed in GitHub Issue #119. Operators must apply configuration changes locally and rebuild affected artifacts. Consult the sfturing hosp_order repository for the current codebase state.

Workarounds

• Externalize secrets using environment variables, a secrets manager, or Spring's @Value with encrypted property sources.
• Enforce network-level access controls that limit database connections to trusted application subnets.
• Add pre-deployment CI checks that fail builds when jdbc.properties contains non-placeholder credential values.

# Configuration example: replace hard-coded values with environment variables
# ssm_pro/src/main/resources/jdbc.properties
jdbc.url=${DB_URL}
jdbc.username=${DB_USER}
jdbc.password=${DB_PASSWORD}