CVE-2024-25211
📋 TL;DR
Simple Expense Tracker v1.0 contains a SQL injection vulnerability in the category parameter at /endpoint/delete_category.php. This allows attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands on the database. Any organization using this vulnerable version is affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Simple Expense Tracker
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete database compromise including data theft, data destruction, authentication bypass, and potential remote code execution on the database server.
Likely Case
Unauthorized data access, modification, or deletion of expense tracking data, potentially leading to financial fraud or data loss.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper input validation and parameterized queries preventing SQL injection.
🎯 Exploit Status
SQL injection via GET/POST parameter requires minimal technical skill to exploit.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Unknown
Vendor Advisory: None known
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
No official patch available. Implement workarounds or migrate to alternative software.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation Filter
allAdd server-side validation to only accept alphanumeric characters in the category parameter.
Modify delete_category.php to validate category parameter with preg_match('/^[a-zA-Z0-9]+$/', $_REQUEST['category'])
Parameterized Query Implementation
allReplace direct SQL concatenation with prepared statements using PDO or mysqli.
Replace: $sql = "DELETE FROM categories WHERE id='" . $_REQUEST['category'] . "'";
With: $stmt = $pdo->prepare("DELETE FROM categories WHERE id=?"); $stmt->execute([$_REQUEST['category']]);
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Block access to /endpoint/delete_category.php at web server or firewall level
- Implement WAF rules to detect and block SQL injection patterns
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Test with payload: /endpoint/delete_category.php?category=1' OR '1'='1Check Version:
Check application version in source code or documentationVerify Fix Applied:
Test with same payload and verify it's rejected or properly handled📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual SQL errors in application logs
- Multiple failed delete_category requests with SQL syntax
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests to delete_category.php with SQL keywords in parameters
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND uri="/endpoint/delete_category.php" AND (param="*' OR*" OR param="*UNION*" OR param="*SELECT*" OR param="*--*" OR param="*;*" OR param="*/*")