CVE-2018-16175 in LearnPress
Summary
by MITRE
SQL injection vulnerability in the LearnPress prior to version 3.1.0 allows attacker with administrator rights to execute arbitrary SQL commands via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/27/2020
The SQL injection vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-16175 affects LearnPress versions prior to 3.1.0, representing a critical security flaw that enables authenticated attackers with administrator privileges to execute arbitrary SQL commands. This vulnerability resides within the LearnPress learning management system and demonstrates a classic SQL injection weakness that can be exploited to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data and system resources. The flaw allows an attacker who has already compromised administrator credentials to escalate their privileges and manipulate the underlying database through maliciously crafted SQL statements. The vulnerability's impact is particularly severe given that it requires only administrator-level access, which represents a high-privilege position within the system. According to CWE-89, this vulnerability maps directly to the CWE-89 category for SQL injection, which is classified as a common weakness in software development practices. The attack vector for this vulnerability operates through unspecified input handling mechanisms within the LearnPress application, likely involving user-controlled parameters that are not properly sanitized or validated before being incorporated into SQL queries.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and parameter sanitization within the LearnPress framework, allowing malicious SQL commands to be injected into database queries. Attackers can leverage this weakness to perform unauthorized data manipulation, including data extraction, modification, or deletion of critical learning management system information. The vulnerability's exploitation requires an attacker to possess administrative credentials, which aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1046 for network service scanning, as the attacker would need to identify and authenticate to the system first. This SQL injection flaw represents a significant risk to educational institutions and organizations relying on LearnPress for their online learning platforms, as it could lead to complete system compromise and unauthorized access to student records, course materials, and administrative data. The vulnerability's potential for data exfiltration and system manipulation makes it particularly dangerous in environments where sensitive educational information is stored.
Organizations utilizing LearnPress must implement immediate remediation measures to address this vulnerability by upgrading to version 3.1.0 or later, which includes proper input validation and parameter sanitization mechanisms. The mitigation strategy should encompass comprehensive security testing and code review processes to identify similar vulnerabilities within the application's codebase. System administrators should also implement network monitoring and intrusion detection systems to detect potential exploitation attempts, while maintaining strict access controls and credential management practices. The vulnerability's classification under CWE-89 and its alignment with ATT&CK techniques emphasizes the importance of proper input validation and secure coding practices throughout the software development lifecycle. Organizations should conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities, while also implementing database security measures such as least privilege access controls and query auditing to minimize the impact of potential exploitation attempts. The remediation process must include thorough testing of the updated LearnPress version to ensure that all security patches are properly implemented without introducing regressions in functionality.