CVE-2024-42558

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-42558 is a SQL injection vulnerability identified in the Hotel Management System application, specifically within the admin_modify_room.php file. The flaw exists in the book_id parameter, which fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input before incorporating it into SQL queries. This vulnerability allows an authenticated or unauthenticated attacker to manipulate database queries, potentially leading to unauthorized data access, data exfiltration, or full database compromise. Any organization deploying this Hotel Management System — typically for property management, booking, and room administration — is affected. Given the CVSS score is N/A (unassigned) and the vulnerability is in a web-facing administrative interface, the potential impact is severe for hospitality businesses relying on this software.

Technical Analysis

The vulnerability resides in admin_modify_room.php, a PHP script responsible for modifying room details within the Hotel Management System (repository commit 91caab8). The SQL injection arises in the $book_id parameter, which is directly concatenated into a SQL query without parameterization or input validation. Based on the vulnerability class, the code pattern likely resembles:

$book_id = $_GET['book_id'];
$query = "UPDATE rooms SET status='modified' WHERE book_id = '" . $book_id . "'";
$result = mysqli_query($conn, $query);

The attack surface is the HTTP GET or POST parameter named book_id within the administrative panel. The application uses a PHP/MySQL stack (inferred from the file extension and SQL syntax), with the vulnerable query likely involving string concatenation. The lack of prepared statements with bound parameters enables classic SQL injection techniques including:

• Error-based injection: Interminal ' or " to trigger database error messages that reveal query structure.
• Union-based injection: Append UNION SELECT to extract data from other database tables (e.g., users, bookings).
• Blind injection: Use boolean-based (AND 1=1 vs AND 1=2) or time-based (SLEEP(5)) payloads to infer data when no error output is available.
• Stacked queries: Execute multiple statements if the database driver permits multi-query execution.

The vulnerability affects the core booking/room modification functionality, meaning an attacker can target a critical data-integrity operation. Because the book_id parameter is not wrapped in intval() or filtered with mysqli_real_escape_string(), and no Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) or prepared statement is used, the injection is trivially exploitable. The attack vector is network-based (AV:N) via the HTTP protocol, with low complexity (no special conditions required) and no user interaction necessary.

The affected version is the commit 91caab8 of the Hotel Management System repository. Attempts to reach the vendor for additional advisory details failed, and no upstream project affiliation (e.g., a company name or maintained open-source organization) is independently confirmed. The CVSS vector is unassigned (N/A), which is unusual but not unprecedented for smaller or less-maintained projects. The CWE classification is unknown, though the vulnerability clearly maps to CWE-89 (SQL Injection) based on NVD description, and the MITRE ATT&CK tactic aligns with T1190 (Exploit Public-Facing Application).

Exploitation Scenarios

Scenario 1: Unauthenticated Data Exfiltration (Error-Based Injection)

1. Reconnaissance: Attackers use Shodan to find exposed web panels by searching for http.title:"Hotel Management System" or http.component:"PHP". Alternatively, they use Google dorks like inurl:admin_modify_room.php to discover vulnerable endpoints.
2. Endpoint Discovery: The attacker navigates to https://target/admin_modify_room.php?book_id=1 and observes the application behaves normally.
3. Trigger: The attacker injects a single quote: https://target/admin_modify_room.php?book_id=1'. The application returns a SQL syntax error (e.g., You have an error in your SQL syntax...), confirming the injection point.
4. Weaponization: The attacker crafts a UNION-based payload to identify the database schema:

   book_id=1' UNION SELECT table_name, null, null, null FROM information_schema.tables--
   

   This enumerates all tables. Next, they extract credentials:

   book_id=1' UNION SELECT username, password, null, null FROM users--
   

5. Post-Exploitation: With admin credentials, the attacker accesses the full admin panel, modifies room pricing, dumps all customer PII (names, addresses, credit card numbers if stored), and potentially uploads a webshell (if file upload functionality exists) for persistent access.

Scenario 2: Blind Boolean-Based Injection for Stealthy Retrieval

1. Reconnaissance: The attacker identifies the login page (admin_login.php) and successfully authenticates with default credentials (common in such systems: admin/admin).
2. Trigger: With admin access, they navigate to admin_modify_room.php?book_id=1 and start testing boolean conditions:

   book_id=1' AND 1=1-- (returns normal page)
   book_id=1' AND 1=2-- (returns error/empty page)
   

3. Data Extraction: The attacker uses a tool like sqlmap with the --technique=B flag to enumerate the database, table names, and contents. They extract the admin password hash, decrypt it (if using MD5 unsalted), and compromise all staff accounts.
4. Persistence: The attacker creates a new admin user or modifies the vulnerable query to drop tables (destructive) or inserts a backdoor into the rooms table to impersonate booking entries.

Scenario 3: Time-Based Blind Injection via Automated Scanning

1. Reconnaissance: Attackers run automated scanners (e.g., Nuclei, Acunetix) against web-facing IPs in popular hospitality industry regions.
2. Trigger: Scanner sends book_id=1' AND SLEEP(5)-- and measures response time. A delayed response confirms the vulnerability.
3. Weaponization: The scanner automatically extracts table names from information_schema using conditional delays. It retrieves the auth table with login credentials.
4. Data Monetization: Stolen booking data (PII, payment card numbers, passport numbers) is sold on dark web markets. The attacker may also demand ransomware to restore encrypted databases.

Impact Assessment

Business Impact: The Hotel Management System handles room reservations, customer check-in/check-out data, and sometimes payment processing. Successful exploitation leads to:

• Confidentiality Breach: Exposure of guest PII (names, phone numbers, email addresses, national ID/passport numbers) and payment card data (if stored in plaintext or weakly protected). This equates to a significant GDPR/PCI-DSS compliance failure.
• Integrity Compromise: Attackers can modify room rates, availability, booking records, and escalate their own privileges within the application. Disgruntled insiders could also corrupt booking histories, causing operational chaos.
• Availability Impact: A destructive SQL injection (e.g., DROP TABLE or TRUNCATE) could render the booking system non-functional, forcing offline operations and revenue loss.
• Financial Impact: Direct financial losses from theft, plus remediation costs (forensics, legal fines, customer notification, reputation management).

Affected Systems: Any installation of this Hotel Management System built from commit 91caab8 or earlier. Since the project appears to be a small open-source/custom project, the exact deployed population is unknown, but hospitality SMBs are the likely user base.

Blast Radius: NVD description does not disclose CVSS subscores (score is N/A), limiting quantitative impact modeling. However, based on common SQLi scoring frameworks, the likely vector is: AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, placing it in the Critical (9.0-10.0) range if scored. The confidentiality impact is high because the admin panel implies database access; the integrity impact is high because book_id modifies room records; availability impact is high if an attacker performs destructive commands. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable over the network without authentication, amplifying the risk.

Detection Guidance

Sigma Rule

title: SQL Injection Attempt in Hotel Management System admin_modify_room.php
id: 9f0b5d3e-2c4a-4f6e-8a1b-7d3c9e2f5a6b
status: experimental
description: Detects suspicious SQL injection payloads in the book_id parameter targeting admin_modify_room.php
logsource:
  category: webserver
  product: apache
  definition: HTTP access logs from the Hotel Management System web server
detection:
  selection:
    cs-uri-query|contains:
      - 'admin_modify_room.php?book_id='
    cs-uri-query|contains|all:
      - "'"
      - 'OR'
      - '=' 
  selection_union:
    cs-uri-query|contains|all:
      - 'UNION'
      - 'SELECT'
  selection_sleep:
    cs-uri-query|contains:
      - 'SLEEP'
      - 'BENCHMARK'
  selection_schema:
    cs-uri-query|contains:
      - 'information_schema'
      - 'table_name'
  condition: selection and (selection_union or selection_sleep or selection_schema)
falsepositives:
  - Legitimate queries containing apostrophes in room booking references (rare)
  - Admin users testing queries with raw SQL (unlikely)
level: high
tags:
  - attack.t1190
  - cve.2024.42558

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2024_42558_HotelMgmtSQLi
{
    meta:
        author = "Valter Sit Threat Intel"
        description = "Detects payload patterns targeting book_id SQL injection in Hotel Management System"
        cve = "CVE-2024-42558"
        date = "2024-10-15"
    strings:
        $param = "admin_modify_room.php" ascii wide nocase
        $book_id = "book_id=" ascii wide nocase
        $sqli_quote = "'" ascii
        $sqli_or = "OR 1=1" ascii wide nocase
        $sqli_union = "UNION SELECT" ascii wide nocase
        $sqli_sleep = "SLEEP(" ascii wide nocase
        $sqli_schema = "information_schema" ascii wide nocase
        $sqli_comment = "--" ascii
        $sqli_comment_hash = "#" ascii
    condition:
        $param and $book_id and any of ($sqli_*) 
        and (#sqli_quote > 1 or $sqli_or or $sqli_union or $sqli_sleep or $sqli_schema)
}

Suricata IDS Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"ET WEB_SPECIFIC_APPS Hotel Management System admin_modify_room.php book_id SQL Injection Attempt (CVE-2024-42558)"; flow:to_server,established; content:"GET"; http_method; content:"admin_modify_room.php"; http_uri; content:"book_id="; http_uri; pcre:"/(\x27|%27)[^\r\n]*(OR|UNION|SLEEP|information_schema)/Ui"; classtype:web-application-attack; sid:2024442558; rev:1; reference:cve,2024-42558; priority:1;)

Elastic Detection

sequence by source.ip with maxspan=5m
  [network where event.type == "traffic" and destination.port == 80 or destination.port == 443
   and network.protocol == "http"
   and url.path == "/admin_modify_room.php"
   and url.query contains "book_id="
   and (
     url.query matches ".*%27.*" or
     url.query contains "UNION" or
     url.query contains "OR " or
     url.query contains "SLEEP" or
     url.query contains "information_schema"
   )]
  [file where event.action == "write" and process.name == "httpd" or process.name == "nginx"]

Splunk SPL Query

index=webaccess sourcetype=access_combined
| where like(uri_path, "%admin_modify_room.php%")
  AND like(uri_query, "%book_id=%")
  AND (like(uri_query, "%'%") OR 
       like(uri_query, "%UNION%") OR
       like(uri_query, "%OR%") OR 
       like(uri_query, "%SLEEP%") OR 
       like(uri_query, "%information_schema%"))
| stats count by src_ip, uri_query, status, _time
| table _time, src_ip, uri_query, status, count
| sort - _time

Wazuh OSSEC Rule

<rule id="100258" level="12">
  <decoded>web_access</decoded>
  <field name="url">admin_modify_room\.php</field>
  <field name="parameters">book_id=</field>
  <regex>.*('|%27|UNION|SLEEP|information_schema|OR 1=1).*</regex>
  <description>CVE-2024-42558: SQL injection attempt in admin_modify_room.php book_id parameter</description>
  <group>web_application_attack,</group>
  <mitre>
    <id>T1190</id>
  </mitre>
  <info type="cve">2024-42558</info>
</rule>

Mitigation & Patch Guidance

Patch confidence is 2/4 (CLAIMED), meaning a single source claims a patch exists but it has not been independently confirmed. No patch version, vendor advisory, or official fix reference is provided in the CVE data, and the "Vendor Fix" field is blank. The MITRE NVD description provides no release version information, so we cannot confirm a patched version exists. Best-effort guidance:

1. Immediate mitigations (do now):

   • Isolate the application: Place admin_modify_room.php behind a VPN-specific segment or network ACL restricting access to administrative IP ranges.
   • Add a WAF rule: Deploy a Web Application Firewall rule to block any request to admin_modify_room.php where the book_id parameter contains ', UNION, SELECT, SLEEP, or information_schema. OWASP ModSecurity Core Rule Set with rule 942100 (SQL Injection) can serve as a base.
   • Disable error reporting: In php.ini, set display_errors = Off and log_errors = On to prevent detailed error messages from aiding attackers.
   • Manual code audit: If you have source access, audit admin_modify_room.php and replace the vulnerable SQL query with a prepared statement:

     $stmt = $conn->prepare("UPDATE rooms SET status='modified' WHERE book_id = ?");
     $stmt->bind_param("i", $book_id);
     $stmt->execute();
     

   • Database lockdown: Revoke DROP, TRUNCATE, CREATE permissions from the application database user to limit damage.

2. Patch/upgrade steps:

   • Check with the upstream repository: If using the Hotel Management System from GitHub, monitor the repository for commit 91caab8 follow-up fixes. If a newer commit exists, checkout the latest stable branch. Pull, and composer update if on PHP dependencies, then re-test.
   • If the source repository is private or unmaintained (likely given no patch source), contract a developer to apply the prepared statement fix above. The single "claimed" patch is unreferenced, so treat the application as effectively unpatched.
   • After applying any fix, run parameterized query tests to validate the injection is neutralized.

3. Long-term hardening:

   • Enforce least privilege on the database: Use a dedicated MySQL/MariaDB user with SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, DELETE only on required tables, no DDL privileges.
   • Encrypt at rest: Ensure database encryption (TDE) and proper HTTP/HTTPS enforcement (TLS 1.2+) to protect data in transit.
   • Reduce attack surface: Change the admin panel filename from admin_modify_room.php to an opaque random name (e.g., x8f3k2m9.php) and protect with HTTP Basic Auth.
   • Regular vulnerability scanning: Integrate Nuclei or OWASP ZAP into CI/CD to detect SQLi patterns automatically.
   • Backup and monitoring: Enable logging of all queries in MySQL general or slow query log, and alert on anomalies. Keep off-site encrypted backups for disaster recovery.

References

1. NVD Entry: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-42558 — Official vulnerability record, NVD description: "Hotel Management System commit 91caab8 was discovered to contain a SQL injection vulnerability via the book_id parameter at admin_modify_room.php."

2. MITRE CVE Record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-42558 — CVE identifier allocation and reference management.

3. GitHub Repository (Potential Source): https://github.com/search?q=Hotel+Management+System+admin_modify_room.php — Search for the public project source to identify maintainer contact details and commit history. The commit hash 91caab8 may be searchable to locate the offending code.

4. CWE-89 Reference: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/89.html — Common Weakness Enumeration for SQL injection, providing mitigation patterns (prepared statements, orm frameworks).

5. CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog: https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog — This CVE is NOT currently listed in KEV (as of report date), indicating no confirmed exploitation in the wild by CISA's tracking. However, unassigned CVSS and low-brand visibility may mean CISA has not yet processed it; monitor this link.

Threat Actor Campaigns: As of this writing, no public reports link CVE-2024-42558 to any known threat actor group or exploit-in-the-wild campaign. The absence of a CVSS score, PoC, or Nuclei template suggests minimal attention from the bug bounty community. However, hotel booking systems are frequent targets of financially motivated groups, and automated scanning for default PHP admin panels is common; assume LOW but NON-ZERO exploitation likelihood, especially in exposed, unpatched instances.