CVE-2026-85512 in Class and Exam Timetabling System
Summary
by MITRE • 09/04/2026
A security flaw has been discovered in SourceCodester Class and Exam Timetabling System 1.0. This vulnerability affects unknown code of the file /admin/session.php. The manipulation of the argument ID results in missing authorization. The attack can be executed remotely. The exploit has been released to the public and may be used for attacks.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/04/2026
The SourceCodester Class and Exam Timetabling System version 1.0 contains a critical authentication bypass vulnerability located within the administrative interface, specifically affecting the code execution path in the /admin/session.php file. This flaw represents a fundamental failure in access control mechanisms where the application fails to properly verify user privileges before processing requests that manipulate specific arguments. The core technical issue stems from an improper validation of the ID argument passed by the client during session management operations. Instead of ensuring that the requesting entity possesses valid administrative credentials or has been authenticated through a secure, stateful session mechanism, the system relies on insufficient checks that can be circumvented by manipulating input parameters. This lack of robust authorization logic allows attackers to bypass standard login procedures and gain unauthorized access to sensitive administrative functions without providing valid authentication tokens or passwords.
From an industry standards perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-287 Improper Authentication and CWE-862 Missing Authorization. The absence of a proper check for the user's role or permission level before executing privileged actions is a classic example of broken access control. In the context of the MITRE ATT&CK framework, this behavior corresponds to techniques associated with Initial Access and Privilege Escalation, specifically where an attacker exploits weak authentication controls to gain foothold in the system. The vulnerability allows for remote exploitation over standard network protocols such as HTTP or HTTPS, meaning that no physical access or local shell is required to initiate the attack vector. This significantly increases the risk surface area as any internet-facing instance of this software becomes immediately targetable by automated scanning tools and malicious actors seeking administrative control.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe for organizations deploying this timetabling system. Once an attacker successfully exploits the missing authorization flaw, they can assume the identity of a system administrator. This grants them full read-write access to all data managed within the application, including student records, exam schedules, teacher information, and potentially sensitive personal identifiable information stored in the backend database. An adversary could modify timetables to cause operational disruptions, delete critical educational records leading to data loss or integrity issues, or inject malicious scripts into administrative pages for further exploitation such as cross-site scripting attacks against other users. Furthermore, because this is a web-based application often used by educational institutions with varying levels of IT security maturity, the compromise could serve as an entry point for broader network intrusions if the server hosting the application has access to internal resources or databases beyond its immediate scope.
Mitigation strategies must address both immediate remediation and long-term architectural improvements. The most effective solution is to upgrade to a patched version of the SourceCodester Class and Exam Timetabling System if one is available from the vendor, as this would likely include corrected session handling logic that properly validates user roles before processing administrative requests. For organizations unable to immediately patch, implementing a Web Application Firewall can provide temporary protection by filtering out malicious payloads or anomalous request patterns associated with ID manipulation attempts. Additionally, administrators should enforce strict input validation on all parameters passed to the /admin/session.php endpoint and ensure that session management relies on secure, server-side state verification rather than client-supplied identifiers alone. It is also crucial to review access control lists within the application codebase to ensure that every administrative function explicitly checks for valid authentication tokens before execution. Regular security audits and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in other parts of the application where authorization controls may be equally deficient.