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Exam Form SubmissionApplication · Code Projects

CVE-2025-8272

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-07-28
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
Public exploit 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
A vulnerability was found in code-projects Exam Form Submission 1.0. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects some unknown processing of the file /admin/update_fst.php. The manipulation of the argument credits leads to sql injection. The attack may be initiated remotely. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used.

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

A SQL injection vulnerability exists in the /admin/update_fst.php file of the Exam Form Submission 1.0 application. The 'credits' parameter is not properly sanitized before being used in database queries, allowing attackers to inject malicious SQL commands. The critical CVSS score of 9.8 and public exploit availability indicate this vulnerability is easily exploitable remotely.

MitigationImplement parameterized queries or prepared statements for all database operations involving user input, specifically the 'credits' parameter. Apply input validation and enforce proper authentication/authorization controls on the admin endpoint.

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
Exam Form SubmissionApplication
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. Identify if Exam Form Submission 1.0 is installed
    Search the webroot for the 'Exam Form Submission' application directories or check for the presence of update_fst.php in any /admin/ path
    Affected if The application directory contains exam form submission files and the version is 1.0
  2. Verify the vulnerable file exists
    Locate /admin/update_fst.php in the application directory and confirm it is present
    Affected if The file update_fst.php exists in an /admin/ subdirectory of this application
  3. Confirm admin access to the vulnerable endpoint
    Check if the /admin/ area is accessible (test authentication requirements) or examine application routing to determine if update_fst.php can be reached without proper admin credentials
    Affected if The admin endpoint is accessible without authentication or with weak credentials
  4. Check for SQL injection sinks in the credits parameter
    Examine the source code of update_fst.php and look for direct insertion of the 'credits' parameter into SQL queries without parameterized statements or sanitization functions
    Affected if The 'credits' parameter is used directly in SQL queries without prepared statements or input sanitization
  5. Verify if database error reporting is enabled
    Check PHP configuration (display_errors) or application error handling settings to see if SQL errors are exposed to users
    Affected if SQL error messages are displayed to users, indicating the injection point is functional and exploitable

A defender is affected if they have Exam Form Submission version 1.0 installed with the /admin/update_fst.php file present and the 'credits' parameter handled without parameterized queries in the application code.

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

Implement parameterized queries or prepared statements for all database operations involving user input, specifically the 'credits' parameter. Apply input validation and enforce proper authentication/authorization controls on the admin endpoint.

Fix this in Exam Form Submission Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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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-2025-8272 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
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