The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-70899 affects PHPgurukul Online Course Registration version 3.1. It stems from a lack of Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) protection on all administrative forms within the application. CSRF is a web security issue where unauthorized commands are transmitted from a user that the web application trusts. In this case, an attacker can craft a malicious webpage that, when visited by an authenticated administrator, causes the administrator’s browser to submit unauthorized requests to the vulnerable application. These requests can perform administrative actions without the administrator’s consent or knowledge, compromising the integrity of the system’s administrative functions. The vulnerability does not require the attacker to have any privileges or prior authentication, but it does require the victim administrator to interact with a malicious webpage (user interaction). The CVSS v3.1 score of 6.5 reflects a medium severity, with the vector indicating network attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges required, user interaction required, unchanged scope, no confidentiality impact, high integrity impact, and no availability impact. No known exploits have been reported in the wild, and no patches or fixes are currently linked. The CWE identifier CWE-352 confirms the nature of the vulnerability as CSRF. The vulnerability was reserved and published in January 2026, indicating it is a recent discovery. The lack of CSRF tokens or equivalent anti-CSRF mechanisms on administrative forms is the root cause, making it possible for attackers to perform unauthorized state-changing operations on behalf of legitimate administrators.

For European organizations, particularly educational institutions using PHPgurukul Online Course Registration v3.1, this vulnerability poses a risk of unauthorized administrative actions that can alter course registrations, user permissions, or other critical administrative settings. Such unauthorized changes can disrupt operations, lead to data integrity issues, and potentially facilitate further attacks if administrative privileges are escalated or misused. While confidentiality and availability are not directly impacted, the integrity compromise can undermine trust in the system and cause operational disruptions. The requirement for user interaction limits the attack surface but does not eliminate risk, especially if administrators are targeted via phishing or social engineering campaigns. The absence of known exploits suggests limited current exploitation, but the vulnerability’s nature makes it a likely target once exploit code becomes available. European organizations with limited security awareness or lacking web application protections are particularly vulnerable. The impact is more pronounced in countries with higher adoption of PHPgurukul or similar platforms in educational sectors.

To mitigate CVE-2025-70899, organizations should implement robust CSRF protection mechanisms on all administrative forms within PHPgurukul Online Course Registration v3.1. This includes generating unique CSRF tokens for each user session and validating these tokens on the server side for every state-changing request. Developers should ensure that all forms and AJAX requests that perform administrative actions include these tokens. Additionally, administrators should be trained to recognize phishing attempts and avoid clicking on suspicious links or visiting untrusted websites while logged into administrative accounts. Network-level protections such as Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) can be configured to detect and block suspicious CSRF attack patterns. Organizations should monitor administrative actions for anomalies that could indicate exploitation attempts. Since no official patches are currently available, organizations may consider applying custom patches or workarounds to introduce CSRF tokens or restrict administrative access to trusted networks or VPNs. Regular security assessments and penetration testing focused on CSRF and related web vulnerabilities are recommended to ensure ongoing protection.