CVE Alert: CVE-2025-11329 – code-projects – Online Course Registration

Risk verdict

High risk: remote SQL injection with a published PoC and automatable exploit, requiring no authentication.

Why this matters

Public exposure of the admin manage-students function enables attacker control over database queries, leading to potential data disclosure or tampering. The combination of remote access, a single parameter flaw, and an available exploit increases the likelihood of rapid automated attacks across vulnerable deployments, even if overall impact per CVSS is Moderate to High in combined scenarios.

Most likely attack path

An attacker sends crafted requests to the unauthenticated admin endpoint, manipulating the ID parameter to induce SQL injection. With AV:N, AC:L, PR:N, UI:N and S:U, the attack needs no user interaction and can be mounted over the network, potentially enumerating data or altering records. Exploitation could enable leakage or modification of student data and could facilitate further lateral moves within the application’s trust boundary.

Who is most exposed

Institutions hosting the affected app with the admin panel reachable over the internet are at risk, particularly organisations using default deployments of the online course registration suite or lacking network-layer access controls.

Detection ideas

• Web server logs showing repeated requests to manage-students.php with odd ID values.
• Database errors or stack traces tied to the ID parameter.
• Anomalous SQL-like payloads (e.g., UNION SELECT, tautologies) in query strings.
• spikes in failed or unusual query activity tied to the app’s DB user.
• WAF alerts for SQL injection signatures targeting this endpoint.

Mitigation and prioritisation

• Apply vendor patch or upgrade to a fixed build; if unavailable, implement compensating controls immediately.
• Enforce strict input validation and use parameterised queries; ensure DB user has least privilege.
• Restrict admin URL access by IP/VPN or disable public exposure.
• Deploy WAF rules tailored to SQL injection patterns; suppress verbose error messages.
• Plan a staged remediation in change-management windows with post-deployment monitoring.