CVE-2023-5276: A Critical Vulnerability found in SourceCodester Engineers Online Portal 1. - SQL Injection in Downloadable_student.php

Recently, a critical vulnerability known as CVE-2023-5276 has been discovered in SourceCodester Engineers Online Portal 1., a popular web-based platform for engineers and engineering students to access resources, collaborate, and share knowledge. With this vulnerability, an attacker can remotely manipulate the 'id' parameter of the file downloadable_student.php, leading to an SQL injection attack.

To give you a better understanding of this critical vulnerability, we'll dive deep into the exploit details, provide code snippets, and demonstrate how the attack can be initiated. Furthermore, we will link to original references so you can explore further, understand the impact, and stay secure.

Exploit Details

The vulnerability affects an unknown part of the downloadable_student.php file. By manipulating the 'id' argument, an attacker can efficiently perform an SQL injection and gain unauthorized access to sensitive data such as usernames and passwords.

A typical code snippet demonstrating the vulnerable part of the downloadable_student.php file is as follows:

<?php
  //...
  $id = $_GET['id'];
  $query = "SELECT * FROM students WHERE student_id = '".$id."' LIMIT 1";
  $result = mysqli_query($conn, $query);
  //...
?>

In the code snippet above, the 'id' parameter is fetched directly from the GET request without any input validation or sanitization. Subsequently, this unsanitized 'id' is used in the SQL query, leading to a potential SQL injection vulnerability.

An attacker can easily exploit this by sending a specially crafted URL that injects SQL code into the 'id' parameter, like this:

https://example.com/downloadable_student.php?id=1%27%20OR%20%271%27%3D%271

By leveraging this successfully, the attacker can manipulate the SQL query and bypass authentication, access private information, or modify sensitive data in the platform.

The identifier of this vulnerability is VDB-240904. For original references and detailed information about this vulnerability, you can check the following links:

- Vulnerability Database Entry
- CVE-2023-5276 Official Page

Stay Secure

It's vital to stay updated with the latest vulnerability information and take necessary precautions to avoid becoming a victim. The best way to mitigate this critical vulnerability is to apply input validation and sanitization before using any parameter or data in SQL queries. Also, ensure that you are using the latest, patched version of your software and keep your web applications updated.

A simple and effective solution to mitigate this kind of vulnerability is to use prepared statements and parameterized queries. Here's an example of how to rewrite the vulnerable code snippet using prepared statements in PHP:

<?php
  //...
  $id = $_GET['id'];
  $query = "SELECT * FROM students WHERE student_id = ? LIMIT 1";
  $stmt = mysqli_prepare($conn, $query);
  mysqli_stmt_bind_param($stmt, "i", $id);
  mysqli_stmt_execute($stmt);
  $result = mysqli_stmt_get_result($stmt);
  //...
?>

By following the best practices and keeping your systems up-to-date, you can significantly reduce the risk of falling victim to security vulnerabilities like CVE-2023-5276.

In conclusion, CVE-2023-5276 is a critical vulnerability found in the popular platform SourceCodester Engineers Online Portal 1.. As responsible stakeholders, we should always stay informed, adopt the best practices, and take immediate action to mitigate such risks. In doing so, we can protect ourselves and our valuable digital assets from potential threats.

Timeline

Published on: 09/29/2023 18:15:09 UTC
Last modified on: 11/07/2023 04:23:45 UTC