CVE-2018-15873 in Sentrifugo
Summary
by MITRE
A SQL Injection issue was discovered in Sentrifugo 3.2 via the deptid parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/18/2020
The vulnerability CVE-2018-15873 represents a critical SQL injection flaw in Sentrifugo version 3.2 that exposes the application to unauthorized database access and potential system compromise. This vulnerability specifically affects the deptid parameter within the application's web interface, creating a pathway for malicious actors to manipulate database queries through crafted input. The issue stems from insufficient input validation and sanitization mechanisms that fail to properly escape or filter user-supplied data before incorporating it into SQL command structures.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when an attacker submits malicious input through the deptid parameter, which then gets directly embedded into database queries without proper sanitization. This allows threat actors to inject arbitrary SQL code that can manipulate the database, extract sensitive information, modify records, or even execute administrative commands. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-89 which categorizes SQL injection as a dangerous coding flaw that permits unauthorized database access and data manipulation. The attack vector follows typical SQL injection patterns where user input flows directly into database queries without proper parameterization or input validation.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to organizations using Sentrifugo 3.2 as it can lead to complete database compromise, unauthorized data access, and potential system-wide breaches. The exposure of sensitive employee information, organizational data, and potentially system credentials creates substantial business disruption and regulatory compliance violations. Attackers could leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges, create backdoors, or perform data exfiltration attacks. The vulnerability also aligns with ATT&CK technique T1071.005 which covers application layer protocol usage and T1046 which involves network service scanning and reconnaissance activities that often precede such database exploitation attempts.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including input validation, parameterized queries, and proper output encoding to prevent SQL injection attacks. The recommended approach involves implementing proper input sanitization mechanisms that filter and validate all user-supplied data before database processing, while also ensuring that database connections use parameterized queries that separate SQL commands from data. Additionally, regular security updates and patches should be applied to address this vulnerability, and access controls should be strengthened to limit database access privileges. Network monitoring and intrusion detection systems should be configured to detect suspicious database query patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts, while also implementing web application firewalls to filter malicious traffic targeting known vulnerability signatures.