CVE Alert: CVE-2025-10603 – PHPGurukul – Online Discussion Forum

Risk verdict

High risk: publicly disclosed remote SQL injection in the admin search function, exploitable without authentication.

Why this matters

Data from the forum database could be exposed or manipulated, with potential disclosure of user records or moderation data. With no user interaction required, an attacker could automate extraction or modification at scale, risking reputational damage and regulatory exposure for affected sites.

Most likely attack path

Attacker targets /admin/admin_forum/search_result.php, supplying crafted input in the Search parameter. No authentication or user interaction needed; low-complexity, network-accessible exploit could succeed and yield data or enable further database manipulation. Exploit evidence exists, increasing likelihood of rapid waves of attempts.

Who is most exposed

Any production site running PHPGurukul Online Discussion Forum 1.0 with internet-facing admin interfaces, especially on typical LAMP deployments or shared hosting, is at higher risk.

Detection ideas

• Unusual or malformed values in requests to the admin search endpoint; repeated patterns like tautological SQL fragments.
• Database error messages or stack traces surfacing in responses or error logs.
• spikes in queries referencing information_schema or system tables.
• Logs showing automated scanners or known SQLi payloads hitting the endpoint.
• WAF alerts for SQLi-like payloads targeting the search parameter.

Mitigation and prioritisation

• Apply patch or upgrade to a fixed release; if unavailable, implement input parameterisation and prepared statements in the search pathway.
• Enforce least-privilege DB accounts and disable detailed DB error messages; restrict the admin interface to trusted networks or MFA-authenticated users.
• Implement input validation and output encoding, plus WAF rules tuned for SQLi in the search field.
• Change-management: test remediations in staging, then deploy with monitoring; schedule as a high-priority fix window.
• Consider temporary access controls or rate limiting for the admin search page until patching.