CVE-2025-45065 is a critical SQL injection vulnerability identified in an employee record management system implemented in PHP and MySQL. The vulnerability exists specifically in the loginerms.php endpoint, which is likely responsible for handling user authentication or login requests. SQL injection (CWE-89) vulnerabilities occur when untrusted input is improperly sanitized and directly incorporated into SQL queries, allowing attackers to manipulate the database queries executed by the application. In this case, the vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to send specially crafted requests to the loginerms.php endpoint, enabling them to execute arbitrary SQL commands on the backend database. Given the CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, the vulnerability is characterized by network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), no user interaction needed (UI:N), unchanged scope (S:U), and high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H). This means an attacker can remotely exploit this flaw without authentication or user interaction, potentially leading to full compromise of the employee record management system's database. The attacker could exfiltrate sensitive employee data, modify or delete records, or disrupt system availability. Although no known exploits are currently reported in the wild, the critical severity and ease of exploitation make this a significant threat. The lack of available patches or version information suggests the system may be custom or niche software, increasing the risk for organizations using it without proper security controls.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability is substantial. Employee record management systems typically store personally identifiable information (PII), payroll data, and other sensitive HR information. Exploitation could lead to large-scale data breaches violating GDPR regulations, resulting in severe financial penalties and reputational damage. The integrity of employee records could be compromised, affecting payroll accuracy, employment verification, and internal audits. Availability disruption could halt HR operations, impacting business continuity. Given the remote and unauthenticated nature of the exploit, attackers could leverage this vulnerability to gain footholds within corporate networks, potentially pivoting to other critical systems. The exposure of sensitive employee data also raises risks of identity theft and targeted social engineering attacks against European employees. Organizations in sectors with stringent compliance requirements, such as finance, healthcare, and government, would face heightened scrutiny and operational risks if affected.

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should first identify if they are using the affected employee record management system or any custom implementations resembling it. Immediate steps include: 1) Conducting a thorough code review of the loginerms.php endpoint and all SQL query constructions to ensure proper use of parameterized queries or prepared statements, eliminating direct concatenation of user inputs. 2) Implementing input validation and sanitization to reject malicious payloads targeting SQL injection. 3) Applying web application firewalls (WAFs) with rules designed to detect and block SQL injection attempts targeting the loginerms.php endpoint. 4) Monitoring logs for unusual database query patterns or repeated failed login attempts that may indicate exploitation attempts. 5) If available, applying vendor patches or updates promptly; if no patches exist, consider isolating or replacing the vulnerable system with a more secure alternative. 6) Enforcing network segmentation to limit database access only to trusted application servers. 7) Conducting regular penetration testing and vulnerability scanning focused on SQL injection vectors. 8) Educating development teams on secure coding practices to prevent similar vulnerabilities in future releases.