GHSA-xhw7-j96h-c3g5 YAFNET: Pre-Handler Authorization Bypass on Admin Pages Enables Blind SQL Execution via `/Admin/RunSql`
**Issue Details:**
YAFNET's only admin authorization gate is `PageSecurityCheckAttribute`, implemented as a `ResultFilterAttribute` that runs *after* the page handler completes rather than before it. No other gate exists. Any admin `OnPost…` handler therefore executes its side effects before the filter rewrites the response to a `302` to `/Info/4`. The most impactful abuse is `/Admin/RunSql`, whose `OnPostRunQuery` binds `Editor` from the POST body and passes it straight to `IDbAccess.RunSql` with no caller check, yielding arbitrary SQL execution for any low-privileged user.A deterministic boolean-conditional time oracle was confirmed end-to-end by extracting the first character of `@@VERSION`: `IF (ASCII(SUBSTRING(@@VERSION, 1, 1)) = 77) WAITFOR DELAY '0:0:5'` produced a ~5-second delay (confirming the byte is `M`), while `IF (ASCII(SUBSTRING(@@VERSION, 1, 1)) = 76) WAITFOR DELAY '0:0:5'` returned immediately.**Impact:**
An attacker holding the lowest-privileged authenticated role, effectively an anonymous attacker on any deployment that permits self-registration, gains arbitrary blind SQL execution against the application's database, with full `INSERT`/`UPDATE`/`DELETE` access to every table including the Identity store (`AspNetUsers`, `yaf_User`, `yaf_UserRole`). This yields full loss of Confidentiality (any column extractable via the time oracle), full loss of Integrity (blind writes to identity, posts, and forum configuration, including self-promotion to HostAdmin), and full loss of Availability (`DELETE`/`DROP`/`WAITFOR`-driven DoS). The impact escalates out of the application's trust domain: if the underlying SQL Server instance has `xp_cmdshell` or CLR integration enabled (common in development and test builds), the same primitive yields OS-level command execution on the database host. Because the bypass is class-wide, every other admin handler is also callable, multiplying the blast radius across user management, XML imports, and file-writing configuration pages.**Likelihood:**
Exploitation requires only a registered forum account (self-registration available on most deployments) and a single HTTP POST request. The attack is fully automatable in one request per probe and produces a deterministic time-based oracle with no error handling required, making the overall likelihood very high.**Steps to Reproduce:**Register or log in to the forum as any low-privileged user.Acquire the standard `__RequestVerificationToken` token from any rendered page and the cookies.Use the following CURL command:
Payload: ```IF (ASCII(SUBSTRING(@@VERSION, 1, 1)) = 77) WAITFOR DELAY '0:0:5'``` (77 is the character **M**)
URL Encoded Payload: ```%49%46%20%28%41%53%43%49%49%28%53%55%42%53%54%52%49%4e%47%28%40%40%56%45%52%53%49%4f%4e%2c%20%31%2c%20%31%29%29%20%3d%20%37%37%29%20%57%41%49%54%46%4f%52%20%44%45%4c%41%59%20%27%30%3a%30%3a%35%27```Payload: ```IF (ASCII(SUBSTRING(@@VERSION, 1, 1)) = 76) WAITFOR DELAY '0:0:5'``` (76 is the character **L**)
URL Encoded Payload: ```%49%46%20%28%41%53%43%49%49%28%53%55%42%53%54%52%49%4e%47%28%40%40%56%45%52%53%49%4f%4e%2c%20%31%2c%20%31%29%29%20%3d%20%37%36%29%20%57%41%49%54%46%4f%52%20%44%45%4c%41%59%20%27%30%3a%30%3a%35%27```Observe that when the condition is true the response time increases, if false, it remains unchanged which confirms the presence of SQL Injection.**Remediation:**Convert `PageSecurityCheckAttribute` from a `ResultFilterAttribute` to an `IAsyncPageFilter` so the admin check runs in `OnPageHandlerExecutionAsync` and short-circuits with `AccessDenied()` before any handler side effects occur.Layer an ASP.NET Core authorization policy as defense-in-depth: `AddAuthorization(... AddPolicy("YafAdmin", ...))` combined with `AuthorizeFolder("/Admin", "YafAdmin")` in the Razor Pages conventions.Restrict `/Admin/RunSql` to `HostAdmin` only and wrap `IDbAccess.RunSql` in a statement-type allow-list that rejects non-read-only SQL, even for legitimate admins.Audit and fix any other authorization logic implemented in `ResultFilterAttribute` / `OnResultExecuting(Async)`, they share the same lifecycle bug.Add regression tests that invoke each admin `OnPost…` handler as a non-admin and assert no database or filesystem side effects occur.
CVSS v3.1 score: 8.8