*Published: 2024-06-15*


Summary:
A recently disclosed vulnerability, CVE-2025-25226, reveals how improper handling of SQL identifiers in the quoteNameStr method of a popular database package can open doors to SQL injection attacks — but only under certain circumstances. Although the vulnerable method is protected and unused in the original 2.x and 3.x branches, the risk lurks for developers who extend this database class in custom projects.

This post explains exactly what went wrong, the possible risks, code examples, and what you should do if your project extends the original database class and uses quoteNameStr.

What is CVE-2025-25226?

CVE-2025-25226 describes a SQL injection vulnerability caused by insecure handling of SQL identifiers in a protected method called quoteNameStr. This method is part of a database package (the exact system is left open due to disclosure best practices).

The flaw is ONLY exploitable if a class derived from the original database class uses this protected method. In official distributions (2.x and 3.x branches), the method isn’t called at all, so those versions are safe out of the box. However, if you are building your own database class by extending the vulnerable class, and you use this method directly (passing user-controllable data as arguments), you put your project at risk.

Let's look at a simplified version of what’s happening under the hood

protected function quoteNameStr($name) {
    // This code doesn't properly sanitize $name
    return '"' . str_replace('"', '""', $name) . '"';
}

On the surface, this seems OK — it escapes double quotes and wraps the identifier with quotes. However, if $name can contain malicious SQL input, there’s a chance of crafting input that breaks out of the quotes and injects arbitrary SQL. Since this method doesn’t validate or parameterize the identifier, the classic SQL injection vector appears.

Safe Usage in Original Packages

> The original 2.x and 3.x branches DO NOT use this method at all. No exploit is possible unless you have custom code extending and calling this protected method with attacker-controlled data.

This is crucial! If you use the original database package and haven't extended the class, you’re safe. But if you’re a developer who has built an advanced custom extension around this class, you might be at risk.

Here’s a hypothetical example of a custom class that *would* be vulnerable

class MyDatabase extends BaseDatabase {
    public function selectFrom($table) {
        // table name passed directly (potentially user-controlled)
        $table = $this->quoteNameStr($table);
        $sql = "SELECT * FROM $table WHERE 1=1";
        return $this->query($sql);
    }
}

// Attacker supplies: users"; DROP TABLE users; --
echo (new MyDatabase())->selectFrom($_GET['tbl']);

What happens:
An attacker could inject malicious SQL through the tbl parameter, leading to a DROP TABLE statement or other nefarious actions.

References

- CVE Official Record for CVE-2025-25226
- OWASP SQL Injection Cheat Sheet

2. Sanitize your identifiers

- Only allow known-safe, hardcoded table or column names when constructing SQL queries via custom methods.

3. Prefer prepared statements

- Prepared statements with bindings prevent injection in values. For identifiers like table/column names, validate against a whitelist.

CVE-2025-25226 only affects custom extensions of the provided database class.

- The official package (2.x/3.x) is NOT exploitable.
- If you’re using or have written custom extensions that call quoteNameStr with user input, you could be at risk for SQL injection.

Final Thoughts

Strict encapsulation helps (private methods > protected where possible), but understanding what your custom code exposes is even more important.

Check your code:
Audit any places you use quoteNameStr or similar methods, and make sure attacker-controlled input can NEVER make it to those calls without strict validation.

For more, see the official CVE listing.

Timeline

Published on: 04/08/2025 17:15:35 UTC
Last modified on: 04/09/2025 15:16:01 UTC