CVE Alert: CVE-2025-9789 – SourceCodester – Online Hotel Reservation System

Risk verdict

High risk: remote, unauthenticated SQL injection with a publicly available exploit; urgent attention needed to prevent data exposure or modification.

Why this matters

Access to the vulnerable endpoint could allow attackers to exfiltrate or alter reservation data and user credentials, potentially impacting guest trust and regulatory compliance. In hospitality contexts, even limited data leaks or integrity issues can drive reputational damage and operational disruption.

Most likely attack path

Exploitation requires no user interaction and no privileges, over the network. An attacker can target the /admin/edituser.php?userid parameter to inject SQL, potentially reading or changing data within the same DB scope. With Scope unchanged and low attack complexity, exploitation is feasible by non-authenticated actors if the endpoint is internet-exposed and poorly protected.

Who is most exposed

Web-facing deployments of the targeted hotel reservation system, especially on shared or public-facing hosting environments, with admin interfaces accessible from the internet, are at greatest risk. Organisations using this package on standard LAMP/PHP stacks are typical exposure points.

Detection ideas

• Alerts for SQLi-like payloads targeting edituser.php (e.g., unusual quotes, UNION SELECT, or timing-based payloads in userid).
• Anomalous DB query patterns and frequent failed/unusual administrator data access attempts.
• Increased 500s or database error messages originating from the admin endpoint.
• WAF or IDS signatures matching SQL injection patterns against the vulnerable URI.
• Unusual spikes in read/write activity tied to the admin region of the app.

Mitigation and prioritisation

• Apply vendor patch or upgrade; if unavailable, apply compensating controls immediately.
• Disable or restrict access to the vulnerable admin endpoint (IP allowlisting, MFA for admins).
• Enforce parameterised queries and secure coding practices; use prepared statements and ORM protections.
• Short-term: implement a web application firewall rule set targeting SQL injection; monitor/admin role activity.
• Change-management: test fixes in a staging environment before production rollout; schedule rapid deployment and verify logs post-implementation.