Description

A security flaw has been discovered in Zen Cart up to 2.2.2. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the file admin/modules.php of the component Module Configuration. The manipulation of the argument configuration results in sql injection. The attack may be launched remotely. The exploit has been released to the public and may be used for attacks. The patch is identified as 08f572654edee1db8f9db091c9949825c6c69339. It is advisable to implement a patch to correct this issue.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "4.7",
  "pubDate": "2026-10-12T12:17:14.640Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-10-12T12:17:14.640Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A critical SQL injection vulnerability has been identified in Zen Cart versions up to 2.2.2, specifically within the Module Configuration component located in admin/modules.php.\nThe vulnerability originates from improper sanitization of the 'configuration' argument, allowing remote, unauthenticated, or authenticated attackers to manipulate backend database queries.\nThis flaw presents a severe risk to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the application, as successful exploitation enables arbitrary SQL command execution.\nAttackers can leverage this vulnerability to bypass access controls, exfiltrate sensitive data, modify database contents, or potentially gain full control over the underlying database server.\nGiven that exploit code is publicly available, the risk of active exploitation is high, and immediate remediation is necessary.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability resides in the admin/modules.php file, which serves as a component of the Zen Cart Module Configuration system. The root cause of this security flaw is the failure to adequately sanitize or parameterize user-supplied input provided via the 'configuration' argument before it is concatenated into SQL queries executed against the application's database.\nThe attack flow commences with the attacker crafting a malicious HTTP request targeting the admin/modules.php endpoint. By injecting SQL syntax into the 'configuration' parameter, the attacker can manipulate the structure of the database query. Because the application processes this input without sufficient validation or the use of prepared statements, the injected SQL commands are executed by the database engine with the privileges of the Zen Cart database user.\nThe vulnerability is remotely exploitable, meaning an attacker does not require physical access to the server. The lack of proper input filtering allows for various SQL injection techniques, such as boolean-based, time-based, or error-based blind injection, and in some configurations, UNION-based injection to extract data directly.\nThe impact of a successful exploitation is comprehensive. An attacker can perform unauthorized read operations to dump sensitive information such as administrator credentials, customer records, and transaction history. Furthermore, the attacker may perform unauthorized write or update operations, potentially creating new administrative accounts, modifying application configuration parameters, or deleting critical data. If the database user account possesses elevated privileges on the underlying host, there is a potential for further escalation and system compromise.\nZen Cart versions up to and including 2.2.2 are affected. The vulnerability has been confirmed by the existence of a public exploit and the availability of a specific patch, identified as 08f572654edee1db8f9db091c9949825c6c69339, which addresses the improper handling of the argument."
}