Overview
This article discusses a critical security issue found in Saurus CMS Community Edition, tagged with the CVE number CVE-2025-52390. This vulnerability, specifically a SQL Injection vulnerability, can be traced back to a commit (d886e5b0) made on April 23, 2010. This flaw has a high potential for causing system compromise and data leakage, affecting countless websites that utilize the Saurus CMS Community Edition for content management.
The severity of this issue lies in the fact that it allows attackers to directly manipulate SQL logic and potentially extract sensitive information or escalate their privileges. This means that the security and privacy of user data are at risk, making it a critical issue that needs to be addressed immediately.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-52390
Severity: Critical (CVSS: 9.1)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential System Compromise or Data Leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Saurus CMS Community Edition | Since commit d886e5b0 (2010-04-23)
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability lies in the `prepareSearchQuery()` method in `FulltextSearch.class.php`. The application directly concatenates user-supplied input (`$search_word`) into SQL queries without sanitization. This lack of input validation and sanitization allows an attacker to inject malicious SQL payloads into the `$search_word` parameter, thereby manipulating the SQL logic.
Conceptual Example Code
Here is a conceptual example of how an attacker might exploit this vulnerability:
POST /search HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
search_word=keyword'; DROP TABLE users;--In this example, the attacker sends a request to the server with a `search_word` parameter containing an SQL injection payload. This payload, once processed by the `prepareSearchQuery()` method, would manipulate the SQL query to delete the ‘users’ table from the database, resulting in a severe loss of data.
Mitigation Guidance
The most effective way to mitigate this vulnerability is by applying the vendor-supplied patch. The patch addresses the root cause by properly sanitizing the user-supplied input in the `prepareSearchQuery()` method.
For those who cannot apply the patch immediately, setting up a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary measure. These systems can detect and prevent SQL injection attacks, providing a layer of protection against this vulnerability.
In the long term, it is recommended to adopt secure coding practices, including proper input validation and sanitization, to prevent similar vulnerabilities.