CVE-2023-4440 - Critical Vulnerability Found in SourceCodester Free Hospital Management System for Small Practices 1.

A newly discovered security vulnerability, identified as CVE-2023-4440, has been found in SourceCodester Free Hospital Management System for Small Practices 1.. This vulnerability has been labeled as critical, and has the potential to compromise the security and integrity of healthcare systems running on this software. The issue lies in an unknown part of the appointment.php file, and its exploitation could lead to a serious SQL injection attack. To make matters worse, the exploit details have been made public and are now accessible to malicious actors.

In this article, we will discuss the specifics of this vulnerability, how it can be exploited, and what preventive steps can be taken to protect affected systems.

Code Snippet

Exploitation of this vulnerability involves manipulating the 'sheduledate' argument in the appointment.php file. A malicious user can alter the input to include malicious SQL code that will be executed on the server, potentially allowing unauthorized access to sensitive data, or even the ability to manipulate and modify data within the system.

Below is a sample code snippet that demonstrates this vulnerability

// appointment.php (fragment)

// ...

if(isset($_POST['sheduledate'])) {
    // ...

    // vulnerable code
    $sheduledate = $_POST['sheduledate'];

    // ...

    $sql = "SELECT ... FROM ... WHERE ... sheduledate = '".$sheduledate."' ...";

    // ...
}

// ...

Original References

- CVE Details: https://www.cvedetails.com/cve/CVE-2023-4440/
- SourceCodester Free Hospital Management System for Small Practices 1.: https://www.sourcecodester.com/php/12213/hospital-management-system-small-practices.html
- VDB-237561: https://www.security-database.com/detail.php?alert=CVE-2023-4440

Exploit Details

Attack Vector: The attack can be initiated remotely, meaning that the attacker does not require physical access to the affected system to carry out the exploit.

Attack Complexity: The complexity involved in exploiting this vulnerability is relatively low. The attacker needs only to modify the 'sheduledate' argument in the appointment.php file with malicious SQL code as exemplified above.

Scope: This vulnerability affects any instance of SourceCodester Free Hospital Management System for Small Practices 1. that has not applied patches or preventive measures to mitigate the risk.

Vulnerability Database Identifier (VDB): The vulnerability has been assigned the VDB identifier VDB-237561.

Prevention and Mitigation

In order to reduce the risk of being affected by this vulnerability, administrators should take the following steps:

1. Regularly review and update the Hospital Management System software to ensure the latest security patches are applied.

Implement input validation checks on all user inputs, especially those sent to appointment.php.

3. Utilize parameterized SQL queries or prepared statements whenever possible to reduce the risk of SQL injection attacks.

4. Configure web application firewalls to block malicious SQL code and other suspicious traffic patterns.

Conclusion

This critical vulnerability, CVE-2023-4440, is a serious threat to healthcare systems utilizing SourceCodester Free Hospital Management System for Small Practices 1.. It is crucial that administrators take the necessary steps to secure their systems and patch this issue proactively. By staying vigilant and informed about current vulnerabilities and exploits, healthcare providers can better protect the sensitive and private data that their systems handle on a daily basis.

Timeline

Published on: 08/20/2023 23:15:10 UTC
Last modified on: 11/07/2023 04:22:35 UTC