**Title:** Sensitive Information Disclosure – Plaintext Credentials Exposed in /db/drug_recommendor.sql

**Severity:** High

**Accepted: CVE-2026-92927**

**CWE:** CWE-200 – Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor

**Researchers:** Karan Parelkar, Anubhav Verma, Parth Desai

**Source / Vendor:** (Sourcecodester's Drug Recommendation System Using Machine Learning, PHP, and MySQL Database ) https://www.sourcecodester.com/php/18278/drug-recommender-web-app-student-project.html

**Summary**

During security testing of the open-source Drug Recommendor project, plaintext credentials were found in the publicly distributed database file:

**/db/drug_recommendor.sql**

The credentials are accessible by simply downloading and opening the SQL file, without authentication or exploitation.

**Steps to Reproduce**

1. Navigate to /db/.

![POC](images/sql%20file%201.png)

2. Click on drug_recommender.sql
   
![POC](images/sql%20file%201.png)

3. Open drug_recommendor.sql in VS Code or any text editor.
   
![POC](images/sql%20file%202.png)

4. Credential information can be observed directly in the SQL dump.

![POC](images/sql%20file%203.png)

**Impact**

An attacker who obtains valid credentials may potentially gain unauthorized access to the associated application/account and sensitive information.

**Remediation**

Remove credentials from publicly distributed SQL dumps.

Replace them with dummy/test credentials.

Never store passwords in plaintext; use bcrypt/Argon2id.

Rotate any credentials that have already been exposed.


**Researchers Information**

**Researcher - 1**

Name: Karan Parelkar 

Independent Security Researcher 

Email: karan.parelkar2005@gmail.com 

GitHub: https://github.com/KaranParelkar 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karan-parelkar-6a370125b/

**Researcher - 2**

Name: Anubhav Verma

Independent Security Researcher 

Email: avdzav10@gmail.com

GitHub: https://github.com/anubhavv106

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anubhav-verma-7123a1232/

**Researcher - 3**

Name: Parth Desai

Independent Security Researcher 

Email: ppdesai3@asu.edu

GitHub: https://github.com/ParthD31

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parth-desai-801951224/