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CVE-2023-54399 – Unauthenticated SQL Injection – Hongjing e-HR before 8.2

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Summary

CVE-2023-54399 is a critical, unauthenticated SQL injection vulnerability in Hongjing e-HR, a human resources management platform, affecting all versions prior to 8.2. The flaw resides in the /servlet/codesettree endpoint, where the categories request parameter is passed into a database query without sanitization. Successful exploitation allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker to read arbitrary database content, including stored user credentials, and the flaw is listed as a known exploited vulnerability with active exploitation observed in the wild.

Technical details

  • Root cause: The categories query parameter submitted to /servlet/codesettree has its HRMS-encoding stripped and is then concatenated into a SQL query without further sanitization or use of parameterized queries (CWE-89).
  • Trigger conditions: No authentication or user interaction is required; an attacker only needs network access to the exposed /servlet/codesettree endpoint.
  • Attack vector: Remote, over the network (AV:N), with low attack complexity and no privileges required.
  • Impact: An attacker can craft UNION SELECT payloads to extract arbitrary database content, including credential tables such as operuser, resulting in full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of stored HR data.
  • Exploitation activity: The Shadowserver Foundation first observed exploitation attempts against this endpoint on October 14, 2023.

Affected software

  • Hongjing e-HR: all versions prior to 8.2

Severity

  • CVSS v3.1 Base Score: 9.8 (Critical) — CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
  • CVSS v4.0 Base Score: 9.3 (Critical) — CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Mitigation and recommended actions

  • Immediate: Upgrade Hongjing e-HR to version 8.2 or later, which addresses the missing input sanitization on the categories parameter.
  • If patching is not immediately possible:
    • Restrict network access to the e-HR application to trusted internal networks or VPN only; do not expose /servlet/codesettree to the public internet.
    • Deploy a web application firewall (WAF) rule to detect and block SQL injection payloads (e.g., UNION SELECT patterns) targeting this endpoint.
    • Monitor logs for requests to /servlet/codesettree containing anomalous or SQL-syntax query parameters, and rotate credentials stored in the operuser table if compromise is suspected.

References

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