CVE-2020-25273
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2020-25273 allows attackers to bypass authentication in SourceCodester Online Bus Booking System 1.0 via SQL injection in the admin login screen. This vulnerability affects all deployments of this specific software version, enabling unauthorized administrative access.
💻 Affected Systems
- SourceCodester Online Bus Booking System
📦 What is this software?
Online Bus Booking System by Online Bus Booking System Project
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete system compromise allowing attackers to access, modify, or delete all booking data, user information, and potentially execute arbitrary code on the server.
Likely Case
Unauthorized administrative access leading to data theft, manipulation of booking records, and potential privilege escalation within the application.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if proper input validation and authentication controls are implemented, though SQL injection vectors remain dangerous.
🎯 Exploit Status
Public exploit code available on GitHub demonstrates simple SQL injection payloads for authentication bypass.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Unknown
Vendor Advisory: https://www.sourcecodester.com
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
No official patch available. Consider replacing with alternative software or implementing custom fixes.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation and Parameterized Queries
allImplement proper input validation and use parameterized queries in admin.php to prevent SQL injection.
Modify admin.php to use prepared statements with parameterized queries for all database operations
Web Application Firewall (WAF)
allDeploy WAF rules to block SQL injection attempts targeting the admin login endpoint.
Configure WAF to block requests containing SQL injection patterns to /admin.php
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Isolate the application behind strict network controls and limit access to trusted IP addresses only.
- Implement multi-factor authentication and strong password policies for admin accounts as additional protection layers.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Attempt SQL injection payloads in username or password fields at the admin.php login endpoint and observe if authentication bypass occurs.Check Version:
Check application version in source code or documentation; this affects specifically version 1.0.Verify Fix Applied:
Test the same SQL injection payloads after implementing fixes; successful authentication should be blocked.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual SQL queries in application logs
- Multiple failed login attempts followed by successful admin access from unusual IPs
- SQL error messages in response to login attempts
Network Indicators:
- HTTP POST requests to admin.php containing SQL keywords like UNION, SELECT, OR 1=1
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND uri="/admin.php" AND (request_body CONTAINS "' OR" OR request_body CONTAINS "UNION SELECT" OR request_body CONTAINS "--")