CVE-2021-40635 in openSIS Classic
Summary
by MITRE • 03/03/2022
OS4ED openSIS 8.0 is affected by SQL injection in ChooseCpSearch.php, ChooseRequestSearch.php. An attacker can inject a SQL query to extract information from the database.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/06/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2021-40635 affects OS4ED openSIS version 8.0, a widely used student information system that manages educational data across institutions. This particular flaw manifests in two specific files within the application's codebase: ChooseCpSearch.php and ChooseRequestSearch.php, which are responsible for handling search functionality within the system's course and request management modules. The vulnerability represents a critical security weakness that directly impacts the integrity and confidentiality of educational data stored within the database infrastructure. These files process user input through search parameters without proper sanitization or validation, creating an exploitable pathway for malicious actors to manipulate the underlying database queries.
The technical implementation of this SQL injection vulnerability stems from the application's failure to properly escape or parameterize user-supplied input values before incorporating them into database queries. When users interact with the search functionality in these specific PHP files, their input is directly concatenated into SQL statements without adequate protection mechanisms such as prepared statements or input sanitization routines. This design flaw allows an attacker to craft malicious input that alters the intended execution flow of database commands, potentially enabling unauthorized data access, modification, or deletion operations. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-89, which specifically addresses SQL injection flaws in software applications, and represents a classic example of how insufficient input validation can lead to severe database compromise.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft, as it can enable comprehensive database enumeration and potential system takeover scenarios. Attackers can exploit this weakness to extract sensitive educational information including student records, academic performance data, personal identification details, and institutional administrative information. The scope of potential damage increases significantly when considering that openSIS systems typically contain highly sensitive personal data subject to various privacy regulations such as FERPA in educational contexts. Successful exploitation could result in data breaches affecting thousands of students and institutional records, potentially leading to identity theft, academic fraud, or other malicious activities. The vulnerability's persistence across multiple search functions within the application suggests that the underlying code architecture may have systemic input handling issues that require comprehensive remediation.
Security mitigations for this vulnerability must address both immediate patching requirements and long-term architectural improvements to prevent similar issues from occurring in the future. The most effective immediate solution involves implementing proper input validation and parameterized queries in the affected PHP files, ensuring that all user-supplied data is properly escaped or parameterized before database interaction. Organizations should also implement web application firewalls and input filtering mechanisms to detect and block malicious SQL injection attempts. Regular security assessments and code reviews should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities throughout the application codebase, with particular attention to database interaction patterns and input handling routines. The remediation process should align with industry best practices for secure coding as outlined in OWASP Top Ten and NIST cybersecurity guidelines, ensuring that the application architecture incorporates defense-in-depth strategies against SQL injection attacks. Additionally, implementing proper access controls and database query monitoring can provide early detection capabilities for any unauthorized database access attempts that might still occur despite patching efforts.