CVE-2007-1493 in nukesentinel
Summary
by MITRE
nukesentinel.php in NukeSentinel 2.5.06 and earlier uses a permissive regular expression to validate an IP address, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands via the Client-IP HTTP header, due to an incomplete patch for CVE-2007-1172.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/30/2025
The vulnerability described in CVE-2007-1493 affects NukeSentinel 2.5.06 and earlier versions, representing a critical security flaw in the web application firewall component designed to protect phpBB-based systems. This vulnerability stems from an insufficient input validation mechanism that fails to properly sanitize the Client-IP HTTP header, creating an avenue for malicious actors to exploit SQL injection attacks. The flaw specifically manifests in the nukesentinel.php file where a permissive regular expression is employed to validate IP addresses, which demonstrates a fundamental weakness in the security architecture that was supposed to prevent unauthorized database access.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploits the incomplete patch for CVE-2007-1172, indicating that developers attempted to address a similar issue but failed to implement comprehensive protection measures. The permissive regular expression allows attackers to bypass validation checks by crafting malicious Client-IP header values that contain SQL metacharacters and injection sequences. This vulnerability operates at the application layer and specifically targets the database interaction component of NukeSentinel, where the improperly validated IP address data is directly incorporated into SQL queries without proper sanitization or parameterization.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe as it enables remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands against the underlying database system, potentially leading to complete database compromise, data exfiltration, and unauthorized access to sensitive information. Attackers can leverage this weakness to perform various malicious activities including data manipulation, unauthorized account creation, privilege escalation, and complete system takeover. The vulnerability affects systems running vulnerable versions of NukeSentinel, which were commonly deployed in phpBB environments, making it particularly dangerous for bulletin board systems that handle user-generated content and sensitive data.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-94, which describes the weakness of executing arbitrary code or commands, and specifically relates to CWE-89, the SQL injection vulnerability. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this issue under T1190, known as "Exploit Public-Facing Application," and T1071.004, "Application Layer Protocol: DNS," as attackers may leverage DNS resolution to craft malicious payloads. The permissive regular expression validation pattern represents a classic example of inadequate input sanitization that violates security best practices and demonstrates poor defensive programming techniques. Organizations should immediately implement patches addressing this vulnerability and consider implementing additional security controls such as web application firewalls, input validation at multiple layers, and regular security assessments to prevent similar issues from occurring in their systems.
The remediation approach requires immediate patching of NukeSentinel to version 2.5.07 or later, which contains the proper fix for the SQL injection vulnerability. Security administrators should also implement network-level protections including firewall rules that restrict access to vulnerable components and monitor for suspicious HTTP header patterns. Regular security audits and code reviews should focus on input validation mechanisms to ensure that all user-supplied data is properly sanitized before being processed by database queries. Additionally, implementing proper error handling and logging mechanisms will help detect exploitation attempts and provide forensic evidence for security incident response activities.