CVE-2021-34187 Scanner

Chamilo is an open-source e-learning and collaboration platform widely adopted by educational institutions, corporations, and government organizations to deliver online courses, manage learning paths, and track student progress. It offers a user-friendly interface for trainers and learners, supporting content creation, assessments, and communication tools. Chamilo's flexibility and active community make it a popular choice for scalable education solutions, but its extensive feature set also introduces potential security risks if not properly maintained.

CVE-2021-34187 is a critical SQL Injection vulnerability in Chamilo that arises from insufficient sanitization of user-supplied input. Attackers can exploit this flaw by injecting malicious SQL code through specific parameters, bypassing authentication or accessing sensitive data. The vulnerability stems from the application's failure to validate or escape input before incorporating it into database queries, a common oversight in legacy code.

Technically, the vulnerability affects the searchField, filters, and filters2 parameters within Chamilo's search functionality. These parameters are used to filter and retrieve data from the database, but they are directly concatenated into SQL queries without proper parameterization. An attacker can craft a request with specially crafted input, such as a single quote or SQL commands, to manipulate the query logic and extract arbitrary data from the database.

If exploited, this vulnerability can lead to severe consequences, including unauthorized access to user credentials, course materials, and personal data. Attackers could also modify or delete database records, compromise the entire system, or use the database as a pivot point for further attacks. Given the CVSS score of 9.8, immediate remediation is critical to protect sensitive information and maintain system integrity.