Cyber Resilience

CVE-2018-25194

Path Traversal

Public PoCPath Traversal
Published
06 March 2026
Modified
15 April 2026
CVSS Score v4 8.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0031 23th percentile
Risk Priority 44 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2018-25194 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 23th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2018-25194 is an SQL injection vulnerability in Nominas version 0.27, affecting the login/checklogin.php endpoint. The flaw arises from improper handling of the username parameter, enabling attackers to inject malicious SQL code, particularly through UNION-based payloads, to execute arbitrary SQL queries against the underlying database.

Unauthenticated remote attackers can exploit this vulnerability with low complexity, requiring no privileges or user interaction, as indicated by its CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.2 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N). By sending crafted POST requests to the login endpoint, attackers can extract sensitive database information, including usernames, database names, and version details, potentially leading to high confidentiality impacts with limited integrity disruption.

Mitigation details are available in related advisories, including the Vulncheck advisory at https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/nominas-sql-injection-via-username-parameter and a proof-of-concept exploit at https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/45820, which security practitioners should consult for patching guidance or input sanitization recommendations. The vulnerability is associated with CWE-22.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Nominas 0.27 contains an SQL injection vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary SQL queries by injecting malicious code through the username parameter. Attackers can send POST requests to the login/checklogin.php endpoint with crafted UNION-based SQL injection payloads to…

more

extract database information including usernames, database names, and version details.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-59304Shared CWE-22
CVE-2025-7694Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-12198Shared CWE-22
CVE-2024-25154Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-29050Shared CWE-22
CVE-2024-49082Shared CWE-22
CVE-2024-12362Shared CWE-22
CVE-2025-69377Shared CWE-22
CVE-2023-38951Shared CWE-22
CVE-2023-48381Shared CWE-22

Affected Assets

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Enforces the intended directory access authorizations that path traversal would otherwise bypass.

Input validation directly neutralizes special path elements before pathname construction occurs.

Least privilege reduces the impact of any unauthorized file access obtained via traversal.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.

PR.AA-05 none match
prevents

PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.

prevents

Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.

prevents

Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.

mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.

References