CVE-2024-6968 in Clinics Patient Management System
Summary
by MITRE • 07/22/2024
A vulnerability was found in SourceCodester Clinics Patient Management System 1.0. It has been declared as critical. This vulnerability affects unknown code of the file /print_patients_visits.php. The manipulation of the argument from/to leads to sql injection. The attack can be initiated remotely. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used. VDB-272122 is the identifier assigned to this vulnerability.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/26/2024
The CVE-2024-6968 vulnerability represents a critical sql injection flaw in the SourceCodester Clinics Patient Management System version 1.0, specifically within the /print_patients_visits.php file. This vulnerability arises from inadequate input validation and sanitization of user-supplied parameters, particularly those related to date range filtering from/to arguments. The flaw allows attackers to manipulate these parameters in ways that directly influence the underlying sql query execution, potentially enabling unauthorized data access, modification, or deletion within the system's database. The vulnerability's critical severity classification indicates the potential for significant damage to patient data confidentiality, integrity, and availability, given the sensitive nature of medical information handled by such systems.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through remote manipulation of the date range parameters in the print_patients_visits.php endpoint. When an attacker submits malicious input through the from/to arguments, the application fails to properly sanitize or escape these values before incorporating them into sql queries. This allows attackers to inject malicious sql payloads that can bypass authentication mechanisms, extract sensitive patient records, modify database contents, or even execute administrative commands on the underlying database server. The vulnerability's remote exploitability means that attackers can leverage this flaw without requiring physical access to the system, potentially enabling widespread data breaches across the clinic's patient management infrastructure.
The operational impact of CVE-2024-6968 extends beyond immediate data compromise, as it directly violates fundamental security principles of data protection and access control. Medical data breaches pose severe regulatory compliance risks under frameworks such as hipaa, gdpr, and other healthcare data protection regulations. The disclosed exploit status means that threat actors can readily implement this attack vector, potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive patient medical histories, personal information, appointment records, and treatment details. This vulnerability essentially provides attackers with a direct pathway to compromise the entire patient database, potentially enabling identity theft, medical fraud, and other malicious activities that could severely damage patient trust and organizational reputation.
Organizations utilizing this vulnerable system must implement immediate mitigations including input validation, parameterized queries, and web application firewalls to protect against sql injection attacks. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-89 sql injection, which is classified as a high-risk weakness in the CWE dictionary, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1190 for exploitation of remote services. Recommended remediation strategies include implementing proper input sanitization, using prepared statements or parameterized queries, conducting comprehensive code reviews, and deploying intrusion detection systems to monitor for suspicious query patterns. Additionally, organizations should enforce principle of least privilege access controls, implement regular security audits, and ensure timely patching of all known vulnerabilities to prevent exploitation of similar flaws in the system's architecture.