CVE-2024-8343
📋 TL;DR
This critical SQL injection vulnerability in SourceCodester Sentiment Based Movie Rating System 1.0 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands via the email parameter during user registration. Attackers can potentially access, modify, or delete database contents. All deployments of version 1.0 are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- SourceCodester Sentiment Based Movie Rating System
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete database compromise including data theft, data destruction, privilege escalation to admin, and potential remote code execution if database functions allow it.
Likely Case
Unauthorized data access, user account compromise, and potential data manipulation affecting movie ratings and user information.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper input validation and database permissions, potentially only error messages or limited data exposure.
🎯 Exploit Status
Public exploit code is available on GitHub. The vulnerability requires no authentication and has simple exploitation vectors.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Unknown
Vendor Advisory: https://www.sourcecodester.com/
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
No official patch available. Check vendor website for updates. Consider implementing workarounds or replacing the software.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation Filter
allImplement server-side input validation for email parameter to reject SQL injection patterns
Modify /classes/Users.php to add: $email = filter_var($_POST['email'], FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL);
Add prepared statements: $stmt = $conn->prepare('INSERT INTO users (email) VALUES (?)'); $stmt->bind_param('s', $email);
WAF Rule
allDeploy web application firewall rules to block SQL injection patterns in email parameter
ModSecurity rule: SecRule ARGS:email "@detectSQLi" "id:1001,phase:2,deny,status:403"
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Isolate the application behind a reverse proxy with strict input validation
- Implement network segmentation to limit database access from the application server
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Test the /classes/Users.php?f=save_client endpoint with SQL injection payloads in email parameter (e.g., ' OR '1'='1)Check Version:
Check PHP files for version comments or review installation documentationVerify Fix Applied:
Test with same payloads after fixes - should return validation errors instead of executing SQL📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual SQL errors in application logs
- Multiple failed registration attempts with SQL patterns in email field
- Database query errors containing injection patterns
Network Indicators:
- HTTP POST requests to /classes/Users.php with SQL keywords in parameters
- Unusual database connection patterns from application server
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND uri="/classes/Users.php" AND (email="*OR*" OR email="*UNION*" OR email="*SELECT*")