CVE-2010-5017 in Elite Gaming Ladders
Summary
by MITRE
SQL injection vulnerability in stats.php in Elite Gaming Ladders 3.0 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands via the account parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/21/2025
The CVE-2010-5017 vulnerability represents a critical sql injection flaw discovered in the stats.php script of Elite Gaming Ladders version 3.0, a web application designed for gaming ladder management and statistics tracking. This vulnerability specifically affects the handling of user input through the account parameter, creating a pathway for malicious actors to manipulate database queries and potentially gain unauthorized access to sensitive information. The flaw exists within the application's input validation mechanisms, where user-supplied data is directly incorporated into sql commands without proper sanitization or parameterization. This type of vulnerability falls under the category of cwe-89 sql injection as defined by the common weakness enumeration, which classifies it as a persistent security weakness allowing attackers to execute malicious sql commands against the underlying database.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft, as remote attackers can leverage the sql injection to perform a wide range of malicious activities including data manipulation, unauthorized access to user accounts, and potential system compromise. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers do not require local system access or physical presence to exploit the flaw, making it particularly dangerous for web applications hosting sensitive gaming ladder data. Attackers can construct malicious sql payloads through the account parameter to extract database contents, modify user credentials, delete records, or even escalate privileges within the application's database structure. This vulnerability directly aligns with the attack technique described in the mitre att&ck framework under initial access and execution phases, where adversaries establish footholds through injection attacks that can later be expanded into more sophisticated compromise operations.
The technical exploitation of CVE-2010-5017 requires minimal sophistication but can yield significant damage to gaming ladder applications and their associated user data. The vulnerability demonstrates poor input validation practices where the application fails to implement proper parameterized queries or input sanitization, allowing raw user input to be directly embedded in sql statements. Security professionals should note that this vulnerability exemplifies the importance of input validation and output encoding in web application security, as it could have been prevented through proper implementation of prepared statements or sql parameterization techniques. Organizations using Elite Gaming Ladders or similar applications should immediately implement mitigations including input sanitization, parameterized queries, and comprehensive web application firewalls to prevent exploitation. The vulnerability also highlights the necessity of regular security assessments and code reviews to identify similar injection flaws in legacy applications, as sql injection remains one of the most prevalent and dangerous web application security risks according to owasp top ten project classifications.