CVE-2025-50490: Session Hijacking in PHPGurukul Student Result Management System v2.0
A session hijacking vulnerability has been identified in PHPGurukul Student Result Management System v2.0. This flaw allows attackers to potentially compromise user sessions due to improper session invalidation. This article details the vulnerability, its impact, and recommended mitigation steps.
Vulnerability Details
- CVE ID: CVE-2025-50490
- Description: Improper session invalidation in the component
/elms/emp-changepassword.phpof PHPGurukul Student Result Management System v2.0 allows attackers to execute a session hijacking attack. - CVSS Score: 7.5 HIGH
- CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CVSS Explanation: This vulnerability has a high availability impact, meaning an attacker could disrupt the system's functionality. The attack can be launched over the network with low complexity and no user interaction. While confidentiality and integrity are not directly impacted, the availability impact poses a significant risk.
- Exploit Requirements: An attacker needs network access to the vulnerable system and must be able to intercept or predict a valid session identifier.
- Affected Vendor: PHPGurukul
- Affected Product: Student Result Management System
- Affected Version: 2.0
- CWE: CWE-20 - Improper Input Validation. This means the system fails to properly validate and sanitize user-supplied input, leading to unexpected or harmful behavior. In this case, it leads to improper handling of session invalidation.
Timeline of Events
- 2025-07-28: Vulnerability publicly disclosed and CVE assigned.
- 2025-07-29: Analysis and blog post creation.
Exploitability & Real-World Risk
The risk associated with this vulnerability is considerable. If an attacker successfully hijacks a user's session, they could potentially gain unauthorized access to sensitive student data, modify results, or perform other malicious actions within the system. Given the sensitive nature of student records, the impact of a successful exploit could be significant. The vulnerability is relatively easy to exploit, as it doesn't require any specific user interaction.
Recommendations
- Apply Patches: Check with PHPGurukul for any available patches or updates that address this session invalidation issue.
- Implement Strong Session Management: Enforce strict session timeouts, regenerate session IDs after critical actions (like login or password change), and use secure session storage mechanisms.
- Input Validation: Always validate and sanitize user inputs to prevent various attack vectors including session manipulation.
- Web Application Firewall (WAF): Consider using a WAF to detect and block session hijacking attempts.
Technical Insight
The vulnerability stems from a flaw in how the /elms/emp-changepassword.php component handles session invalidation. When a user changes their password, the old session should be immediately invalidated to prevent further use. However, due to improper implementation, the old session remains active, allowing an attacker who has previously obtained the session ID to continue using it, even after the password has been changed. This can be exploited by sniffing network traffic or using other session hijacking techniques.
Credit to Researcher(s)
VasilVK (likely from the github link)
References
Tags
#PHPGurukul #SessionHijacking #CVE-2025-50490 #WebSecurity #SRMS #PHP
Summary: PHPGurukul Student Result Management System v2.0 is vulnerable to session hijacking due to improper session invalidation in the `/elms/emp-changepassword.php` component. An attacker could compromise user sessions, gaining unauthorized access and control.
CVE ID: CVE-2025-50490
Risk Analysis: Successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive student data, modification of results, and other malicious activities, causing significant damage and reputational harm.
Recommendation: Apply available patches, implement strong session management practices, enforce strict session timeouts, and consider using a Web Application Firewall (WAF).
Timeline
- 2025-07-28: Vulnerability publicly disclosed and CVE assigned.
- 2025-07-29: Analysis and blog post creation.