PHPGurukul Online Shopping Portal SQL Injection Vulnerability in Password Recovery Feature

A critical SQL injection vulnerability has been identified in the PHPGurukul Online Shopping Portal Project version 2.0. The issue resides in the password recovery feature, specifically within the 'shopping/password-recovery.php' file. The vulnerability is triggered by manipulating the 'emailid' parameter, allowing attackers to inject malicious SQL queries. This exploitation can be executed remotely, without any authentication requirements.

Impact

Exploitation of this vulnerability allows attackers to access the database, manipulate or delete data, and extract sensitive information. Such actions could lead to unauthorized database access, data breaches, and potential disruption of services.

Reproduction

The vulnerability can be reproduced by sending a POST request to 'shopping/password-recovery.php' with a crafted 'emailid' parameter that includes a SQL injection payload. This payload should be designed to exploit the application's SQL query handling, such as by using time-based blind SQL injection techniques that leverage SQL commands like 'SLEEP' to indicate successful injection.

Remediation

It is recommended to implement prepared statements and parameter binding to prevent SQL injection. Additionally, input validation and filtering should be applied to ensure that user input meets expected formats, thereby blocking malicious data. Finally, database user permissions should be minimized, ensuring that the account used for database connections has only the necessary privileges.