CVE-2020-25408 in College Management System Php
Summary
by MITRE • 05/24/2021
A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability exists in ProjectWorlds College Management System Php 1.0 that allows a remote attacker to modify, delete, or make a new entry of the student, faculty, teacher, subject, scores, location, and article data.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/27/2021
The CVE-2020-25408 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within the ProjectWorlds College Management System Php version 1.0, fundamentally compromising the integrity and availability of educational institutional data. This vulnerability operates by exploiting the absence of proper anti-CSRF mechanisms in the web application's authentication and authorization framework, allowing malicious actors to execute unauthorized actions on behalf of authenticated users without their knowledge or consent. The flaw specifically targets the core data management functions of the system, enabling attackers to manipulate student records, faculty information, teacher details, subject catalogs, academic scores, location data, and article content through carefully crafted malicious requests.
The technical implementation of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the application's failure to implement robust CSRF token validation mechanisms within its web forms and API endpoints. According to CWE-352, this represents a classic cross-site request forgery vulnerability where the application does not adequately verify the origin of requests, making it susceptible to exploitation through social engineering techniques or by tricking authenticated users into visiting malicious websites. The vulnerability exists at the application layer where user sessions are not properly protected against unauthorized request manipulation, creating a pathway for attackers to leverage legitimate user credentials for malicious purposes.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data modification, encompassing potential complete system compromise and unauthorized access to sensitive educational data. Attackers can exploit this weakness to delete critical student information, alter academic records, manipulate faculty data, and modify course content, fundamentally undermining the integrity of the educational management system. The attack surface includes all administrative functions that handle user data, making it particularly dangerous for educational institutions that rely on accurate and secure data management for academic operations. This vulnerability directly affects the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of institutional data, potentially leading to academic fraud, unauthorized access to personal information, and disruption of educational services.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2020-25408 should focus on implementing comprehensive CSRF protection mechanisms including the use of anti-CSRF tokens for all state-changing operations, proper session management, and origin validation checks. Organizations should implement the principle of least privilege by ensuring that users only have access to functions necessary for their roles, and deploy proper input validation and output encoding to prevent additional attack vectors. The implementation of Content Security Policy headers and proper HTTP headers can further enhance protection against CSRF attacks. According to ATT&CK technique T1566, this vulnerability represents a significant entry point for attackers seeking to establish persistence and escalate privileges within the system, making immediate remediation essential for maintaining institutional security posture and protecting sensitive educational data assets.