Nero Social Networking Site 1.0: Critical SQL Injection Vulnerability (CVE-2025-13279)

Overview

CVE-2025-13279 identifies a medium-severity SQL injection vulnerability in Nero Social Networking Site version 1.0. This flaw allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary SQL queries by manipulating the ID argument in the /profilefriends.php file. Publicly available exploit code exists, increasing the risk of exploitation.

Technical Details

The vulnerability stems from improper sanitization of user-supplied input passed to the ID parameter in the /profilefriends.php script. An attacker can inject malicious SQL code into this parameter, which, when processed by the application’s database query, can lead to unauthorized data access, modification, or even complete database compromise. The specific injection point lies within an unknown function called by the /profilefriends.php script. The attacker sends a crafted HTTP request to /profilefriends.php?ID=[SQL Injection Payload].

CVSS Analysis

The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) assigns this vulnerability a score of 6.3 (Medium).

• Attack Vector (AV): Network (N)
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low (L)
• Privileges Required (PR): None (N)
• User Interaction (UI): None (N)
• Scope (S): Unchanged (U)
• Confidentiality Impact (C): Low (L)
• Integrity Impact (I): Low (L)
• Availability Impact (A): Low (L)

This score reflects the ease of exploitation and the potential for moderate impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Possible Impact

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could lead to:

• Data Breach: Unauthorized access to sensitive user data, including personal information, friend lists, and potentially passwords (if not properly hashed and salted).
• Data Manipulation: Modification of user profiles, social connections, or other data stored in the database.
• Denial of Service (DoS): By injecting resource-intensive SQL queries, an attacker could potentially overload the database server, leading to a denial of service for legitimate users.
• Account Takeover: In some cases, an attacker might be able to leverage the SQL injection to gain administrative privileges or take over user accounts.

Mitigation and Patch Steps

Due to the age and nature of the project, an official patch may not be available. The following mitigation steps are recommended:

• Input Validation and Sanitization: Implement robust input validation and sanitization techniques for all user-supplied data, especially the ID parameter in /profilefriends.php. Use parameterized queries or prepared statements to prevent SQL injection.
• Web Application Firewall (WAF): Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to detect and block malicious requests targeting this vulnerability. Configure the WAF with rules to identify and filter SQL injection attempts.
• Database Permissions: Apply the principle of least privilege to database user accounts. Limit the permissions of the database user used by the Nero Social Networking Site to only the necessary operations.
• Consider Migration: Given the severity of the vulnerability and the lack of active maintenance, consider migrating to a more secure and actively supported social networking platform.
• Code Review: If possible, conduct a thorough code review of the /profilefriends.php file and related database interaction code to identify and remediate other potential vulnerabilities.

References

• Project Website: code-projects.org
• Exploit Code (GitHub): github.com/daojian1/Nero-Social-Networking-Site-V1.0_005
• Exploit Report (GitHub): github.com/daojian1/Nero-Social-Networking-Site-V1.0_005/blob/main/report.md
• VulDB: vuldb.com/?ctiid.332614
• VulDB ID: vuldb.com/?id.332614
• VulDB Submission: vuldb.com/?submit.690963