The Summar Employee Portal, a human resources management web application widely used in Spanish-speaking markets, has a critical security flaw identified as an authenticated SQL injection vulnerability in version 3.98.0 and earlier. The vulnerability resides in the POST parameter ctl00$ContentPlaceHolder1$filtroNombre on the /MemberPages/quienesquien.aspx endpoint. An attacker with valid login credentials can inject malicious SQL commands through this parameter, enabling them to retrieve sensitive employee data, modify records, or delete database entries. The backend database is Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL), and the vulnerability allows full CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations on the database. The exploit is demonstrated using sqlmap, a popular automated SQL injection tool, indicating ease of exploitation once authentication is bypassed or obtained. The presence of detailed exploit code publicly available on Exploit-DB increases the likelihood of threat actors attempting attacks. No official patches or updates have been linked yet, and the vulnerability has been assigned CVE-2025-40677. This flaw poses a significant risk to confidentiality, integrity, and availability of HR data managed by the portal. Attackers could leverage this to exfiltrate personal employee information, manipulate payroll or HR records, or disrupt HR operations. The vulnerability requires authentication, limiting exposure to internal or compromised users, but the impact remains substantial due to the sensitive nature of the data and the level of control gained over the database.

For European organizations, especially those operating in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries where Summar software has market penetration, this vulnerability could lead to severe data breaches involving employee personal and payroll information. Confidentiality is at high risk as attackers can extract sensitive data. Integrity is compromised since attackers can alter or delete HR records, potentially causing payroll errors, compliance violations, or operational disruptions. Availability may also be affected if attackers delete critical data or disrupt the portal’s functionality. The requirement for authentication reduces the attack surface but does not eliminate risk, as insider threats or credential compromise could enable exploitation. The public availability of exploit code lowers the barrier for attackers, increasing the likelihood of targeted attacks. Organizations could face regulatory penalties under GDPR for failing to protect employee data adequately. The reputational damage and operational costs associated with remediation and incident response could be significant.

1. Immediately restrict access to the affected portal to trusted users and monitor for unusual activity. 2. Implement strict input validation and sanitization on the ctl00$ContentPlaceHolder1$filtroNombre parameter to prevent SQL injection. 3. Refactor the application code to use parameterized queries or stored procedures instead of dynamic SQL concatenation. 4. Conduct a thorough security audit of the entire application to identify and remediate similar injection points. 5. Enforce strong authentication mechanisms, including multi-factor authentication, to reduce risk of credential compromise. 6. Monitor logs for suspicious POST requests targeting /MemberPages/quienesquien.aspx and the vulnerable parameter. 7. Apply network segmentation and least privilege principles to limit database access from the web application. 8. Engage with Summar software vendor for official patches or updates and apply them promptly once available. 9. Educate internal users about phishing and credential security to reduce insider threat risk. 10. Prepare incident response plans specifically addressing potential data breaches from this vulnerability.