CVE-2026-2179 identifies a SQL injection vulnerability in the PHPGurukul Hospital Management System version 4.0, specifically within the /admin/manage-users.php file. The vulnerability arises from improper sanitization of the ID parameter, which allows an attacker with authenticated admin privileges to inject malicious SQL commands remotely. This can lead to unauthorized data access, modification, or deletion within the backend database. The CVSS 4.0 vector indicates network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no user interaction (UI:N), but requires high privileges (PR:H), and results in low impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (VC:L, VI:L, VA:L). Although no public exploits are currently known, the vulnerability's public disclosure increases the risk of future exploitation. The absence of patches or official remediation guidance necessitates immediate attention from system administrators. The vulnerability affects a critical healthcare management system, potentially exposing sensitive patient data and disrupting hospital operations if exploited. The attack surface is limited to authenticated administrators, which somewhat reduces the risk but does not eliminate it due to the sensitive nature of the system and data involved.

For European organizations, especially healthcare providers using PHPGurukul Hospital Management System 4.0, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to patient data confidentiality and system integrity. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive medical records, manipulation of user accounts, and potential disruption of hospital management functions. This could result in regulatory non-compliance with GDPR due to data breaches, reputational damage, and operational downtime. The healthcare sector is a critical infrastructure in Europe, and any compromise could have cascading effects on patient care and trust. Additionally, attackers could leverage this vulnerability as a foothold for further lateral movement within hospital networks. The requirement for authenticated admin access limits the threat to insiders or compromised credentials, but the risk remains substantial given the sensitivity of the environment.

Organizations should immediately audit and restrict administrative access to the PHPGurukul Hospital Management System, ensuring only trusted personnel have high-privilege accounts. Implement strict input validation and adopt parameterized queries or prepared statements in the /admin/manage-users.php file to prevent SQL injection. Conduct thorough code reviews and penetration testing focused on user input handling. Monitor logs for suspicious activities related to user management functions. If possible, isolate the hospital management system network segment to limit exposure. Engage with the vendor or community to obtain or develop patches and apply them promptly once available. Additionally, enforce multi-factor authentication for admin accounts to reduce the risk of credential compromise. Regularly back up critical data and have an incident response plan tailored for healthcare IT environments. Finally, consider deploying web application firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block SQL injection attempts targeting this vulnerability.