CVE-2020-25132
Description
An issue was discovered in Observium Professional, Enterprise & Community 20.8.10631. It is vulnerable to SQL Injection due to the fact that it is possible to inject malicious SQL statements in malformed parameter types. Sending the improper variable type Array allows a bypass of core SQL Injection sanitization. Users are able to inject malicious statements in multiple functions. This vulnerability leads to full authentication bypass: any unauthorized user with access to the application is able to exploit this vulnerability. This can occur via the Cookie header to the default URI, within includes/authenticate.inc.php.
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
Observium 20.8.10631 is vulnerable to SQL injection via malformed Array parameters, allowing unauthenticated attackers to bypass authentication.
Vulnerability
Observium Community, Professional, and Enterprise version 20.8.10631 is vulnerable to SQL injection due to improper handling of malformed parameter types. Specifically, passing an Array instead of a scalar value bypasses the core SQL injection sanitization. This vulnerability exists in multiple functions, including includes/authenticate.inc.php, and can be triggered via the Cookie header to the default URI. [1]
Exploitation
An attacker with network access to the application and no prior authentication can exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted Cookie header containing an Array type parameter. The core sanitization fails to properly handle this type, allowing injection of malicious SQL statements. The proof of concept works without requiring a debug parameter. [1]
Impact
Successful exploitation results in full authentication bypass, enabling any unauthorized user to gain access to the application. Once authenticated, the attacker can execute arbitrary SQL queries, potentially leading to data disclosure, modification, or further compromise of the system. [1]
Mitigation
As of the publication date (2020-09-25), no patch has been released by Observium. Users should monitor official channels for updates. No workaround is provided in the available references. [1]
AI Insight generated on May 26, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.
Affected products
2- Observium/Observium Professional, Enterprise & Communitydescription
- Range: = 20.8.10631
Patches
0No patches discovered yet.
Vulnerability mechanics
Root cause
"Core SQL injection sanitization does not handle array-type parameters, allowing malicious SQL statements to bypass filtering when an array is supplied instead of a scalar value."
Attack vector
An unauthenticated attacker sends a crafted HTTP request to the default URI, supplying an array-type value (e.g., via the Cookie header) where a scalar is expected. The core sanitization routines in includes/authenticate.inc.php fail to properly validate or sanitize array parameters, allowing the injected SQL statements to reach the database. This leads to full authentication bypass, enabling any unauthorized user with network access to the application to gain authenticated access [ref_id=1].
Affected code
The vulnerability exists in includes/authenticate.inc.php, where core SQL injection sanitization fails to handle array-type parameters [ref_id=1]. The advisory does not specify additional affected files or functions beyond noting that multiple functions are exploitable.
What the fix does
No patch is included in the bundle. The advisory [ref_id=1] recommends that the application's core sanitization logic be updated to properly detect and reject array-type parameters where scalar values are expected, preventing the bypass of SQL injection filters.
Preconditions
- networkAttacker must have network access to the Observium application instance.
- inputAttacker must supply an array-type value (e.g., via the Cookie header) where a scalar is expected.
Generated on May 25, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.
References
1- gist.github.com/mariuszpoplawski/e70bc0afe5853e283d3fd3511a1ce09dmitrex_refsource_MISC
News mentions
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