CVE-2025-3968
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2025-3968 is a critical SQL injection vulnerability in codeprojects News Publishing Site Dashboard 1.0 that allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands via the cat_id parameter in /api.php. This can lead to unauthorized data access, modification, or deletion. All users running version 1.0 of this software are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- codeprojects News Publishing Site Dashboard
📦 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 if database functions allow it.
Likely Case
Unauthorized data access and extraction of sensitive information from the database, potentially including user credentials and administrative data.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper input validation and parameterized queries preventing successful exploitation.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploit details are publicly available on GitHub, making this easily exploitable by attackers with basic SQL injection knowledge.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Unknown
Vendor Advisory: None available
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
No official patch available. Consider migrating to alternative software or implementing workarounds.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation and Sanitization
allImplement strict input validation for the cat_id parameter to only accept expected data types and ranges.
Modify /api.php to validate cat_id parameter: if(!is_numeric($_GET['cat_id']) || $_GET['cat_id'] <= 0) { die('Invalid input'); }
Parameterized Queries Implementation
allReplace direct SQL concatenation with prepared statements using PDO or mysqli.
Replace: $sql = "SELECT * FROM categories WHERE id = " . $_GET['cat_id'];
With: $stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM categories WHERE id = ?"); $stmt->execute([$_GET['cat_id']]);
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with SQL injection protection rules
- Restrict network access to the application using firewall rules to limit exposure
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Test the /api.php endpoint with SQL injection payloads like: /api.php?cat_id=1' OR '1'='1Check Version:
Check the software version in the application's configuration files or admin dashboard.Verify Fix Applied:
Test with SQL injection payloads after implementing fixes to ensure they are rejected or properly handled.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual SQL error messages in application logs
- Multiple failed parameter validation attempts
- Suspicious cat_id parameter values containing SQL keywords
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests to /api.php with SQL injection payloads in parameters
- Unusual database query patterns from the application server
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND uri_path="/api.php" AND (param="cat_id" AND value MATCHES "(?i)(union|select|insert|update|delete|drop|--|#|\*|;)")