Online Voting System ProjectApplication · Projectworlds

CVE-2023-48433

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-12-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Online Voting System Project v1.0 is vulnerable to multiple Unauthenticated SQL Injection vulnerabilities. The 'username' parameter of the login_action.php resource does not validate the characters received and they are sent unfiltered to the database.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Unauthenticated SQL injection in the login_action.php script allows attackers to inject arbitrary SQL commands via the username parameter. The application fails to use parameterized queries or input validation, enabling attackers to manipulate database queries without authentication.

MitigationReplace dynamic SQL queries with prepared statements/parameterized queries. Implement strict input validation on all user-supplied data, particularly in authentication-related code.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Online Voting System ProjectApplication
Affected:= 1.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate the login_action.php script
    Search the web server document root for the file login_action.php, which is typically found in the authentication or admin directory of the Online Voting System.
    Affected if The file exists in the application directory, indicating the vulnerable component is present.
  2. Verify the application version
    Check the version of Projectworlds Online Voting System by reviewing any version.php file, README file, or meta information in the application header. Compare against version 1.0.
    Affected if The installed version is 1.0, matching the affected version range.
  3. Inspect the login_action.php code for SQL injection vulnerability
    Open login_action.php and examine how the username parameter is handled in database queries. Look for dynamic SQL construction without prepared statements or parameter binding.
    Affected if The code uses direct string concatenation or interpolation of the username parameter into SQL queries (e.g., SELECT * FROM users WHERE username='$username') rather than parameterized queries.
  4. Confirm the application is network-accessible
    Verify that the login page (where login_action.php is called) is accessible from the network by attempting to access the login URL or checking web server access logs.
    Affected if The application is exposed to network users, meaning unauthenticated attackers can reach the vulnerable login_action.php endpoint.

The environment is affected if the Projectworlds Online Voting System version 1.0 is installed, the login_action.php file uses dynamic SQL with the username parameter, and the application is network-accessible to unauthenticated users.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Replace dynamic SQL queries with prepared statements/parameterized queries. Implement strict input validation on all user-supplied data, particularly in authentication-related code.

Fix this in Online Voting System Project Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-48433 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-48433 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data