CVE-2024-48702 identifies a medium-severity HTML Injection vulnerability in the PHPGurukul Old Age Home Management System version 1.0. The vulnerability arises from improper sanitization of the 'searchdata' parameter, which allows an attacker to inject arbitrary HTML content into the web application's output. This is classified under CWE-79, indicating a Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)-related issue, specifically HTML Injection. The vulnerability requires network access (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), and privileges (PR:L), meaning the attacker must have some level of authenticated access. User interaction (UI:R) is required, suggesting that the injected content is triggered when a user interacts with the affected functionality, such as performing a search. The scope is changed (S:C), indicating that the vulnerability affects components beyond the initially vulnerable component, potentially impacting other parts of the system or user sessions. The impact includes limited confidentiality and integrity loss (C:L/I:L) but no impact on availability (A:N). Exploitation could allow attackers to manipulate displayed content, potentially leading to phishing, session hijacking, or misleading users within the application context. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no patches have been linked yet. The vulnerability was published on May 23, 2025, and the CVSS score is 5.4, reflecting a medium risk level. Given the nature of the affected system—a management system for old age homes—the threat could impact sensitive personal data and operational workflows if exploited.

For European organizations, especially those managing elderly care facilities or similar healthcare-related services, this vulnerability poses a risk to both data confidentiality and integrity. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive resident information or manipulation of displayed data, undermining trust and potentially violating GDPR regulations concerning personal data protection. The HTML Injection could also be leveraged to conduct phishing attacks within the application, targeting staff or residents, leading to credential theft or further compromise. Operational disruption is less likely since availability is not impacted, but reputational damage and regulatory penalties could be significant. Given the healthcare context, any compromise could have serious ethical and legal implications. Organizations relying on PHPGurukul or similar legacy systems without robust input validation are particularly at risk.

To mitigate this vulnerability, organizations should implement strict input validation and output encoding on the 'searchdata' parameter to prevent injection of malicious HTML content. Employing a whitelist approach for allowed characters and using context-aware encoding libraries (e.g., HTML entity encoding) is critical. Additionally, applying Content Security Policy (CSP) headers can help restrict the execution of injected scripts. Since no official patches are currently available, organizations should consider deploying Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious input patterns targeting the 'searchdata' parameter. Regular security audits and penetration testing focusing on input handling should be conducted. User privileges should be minimized to reduce the risk from authenticated attackers, and user training on recognizing phishing attempts within the application context is advisable. Monitoring logs for unusual search queries or injection attempts can provide early detection of exploitation attempts.