Unauthenticated holes in Gotac police statistics system could let attackers read, upload and rewrite data — a wake‑up call for information security

Unauthenticated holes in Gotac police statistics system could let attackers read, upload and rewrite data — a wake‑up call for information security

What happened (the short, factual version)

Multiple high‑severity vulnerabilities have been disclosed in the Gotac Police Statistics Database System, including CVE-2026-1019, CVE-2026-1018 and CVE-2026-1021. According to the advisories, the product contains missing authentication and arbitrary file read/upload issues that allow unauthenticated remote attackers to access database contents, download arbitrary system files and, in some cases, upload files that could lead to web shells and remote code execution.

The published entries describe a set of failures in basic access control and input handling rather than a niche, hard‑to‑reach flaw — which makes this a particularly urgent category of risk for any organisation that treats sensitive datasets like police records, statistics or operational logs.

Why this matters to your organisation

If your organisation stores, processes or transmits sensitive operational data — whether for public sector customers, regulated clients or internal decision‑making — a vulnerability like this is not an abstract item to tick off the monthly report. It is a direct threat to confidentiality, integrity and availability: attackers could quietly steal records, alter datasets so decisions are skewed, or drop a web shell and pivot to other systems.

That has immediate business consequences: regulatory exposure, forensic and remediation costs, lost contracts, downtime while systems are taken offline, and reputational damage that can take years to repair. Boards do not enjoy bridge‑building conversations when an auditor asks why unauthenticated endpoints were publicly reachable; IT teams even less so. And yes, “we will patch it later” is the security equivalent of leaving the front door unlocked because you’re expecting a parcel.

How this kind of weakness is typically abused

When authentication checks are missing or file handling is insufficiently validated, attackers have several realistic paths to escalate harm. They may:

• Enumerate and exfiltrate sensitive records for fraud, blackmail or targeted attacks.

• Upload web shells or backdoors via arbitrary file upload functionality and use them to run commands, move laterally and maintain persistence.

• Modify or delete datasets to disrupt services or obscure prior activity, creating operational chaos and complicating incident response.

• Combine file read flaws with other misconfigurations to harvest credentials, enabling further compromise of cloud or on‑prem systems.

What should organisations actually do right now

Immediate practical triage (start this today)

• Inventory: Identify any deployments of the Gotac Police Statistics Database System in your estate or in the estates of your suppliers and partners.

• Isolate and block: If an affected instance is internet‑exposed, block external access until mitigations or patches are applied — treat exposure like a lit match near a dry hedge.

• Patching and remediation: Apply vendor advisories or mitigations as published. Where no patch exists yet, implement compensating controls such as firewall rules, access restrictions and temporary authentication proxies.

• Forensics and backups: Capture forensic evidence for any suspicious activity and verify the integrity of backups before trusting them — backups are parachutes you’ve never opened until you need them.

Short‑to‑medium term (days to weeks)

• Harden access controls: Enforce least privilege, segment networks and require multi‑factor authentication for administrative access where possible.

• Vulnerability management: Ensure your vulnerability scanning and patch management programmes are tuned to find unauthenticated endpoints and web‑upload vectors.

• Logging and monitoring: Increase log retention and monitoring for anomalous file writes, strange HTTP requests and unexpected process launches.

How recognised standards would have reduced the likelihood or impact

An ISO 27001 information security management system provides a framework for systematic risk assessment, supplier and system inventories, and control selection that would flag unauthenticated services as a high‑risk item requiring immediate remediation.

Controls typically required by ISO 27001 — such as access control (A.9), system acquisition and maintenance (A.14), and supplier relationships (A.15) — map tightly to the weaknesses disclosed here. A mature ISMS also embeds change control and acceptance testing, making it less likely that an unauthenticated endpoint reaches production unnoticed.

For operational resilience, ISO 22301 business continuity planning helps ensure critical services keep running or fail safely while you investigate and remediate, reducing the downstream impact on customers and staff payrolls.

Practical baseline controls such as Cyber Essentials and IASME certifications would also force the basics: network segmentation, secure configuration and timely patching. And if human error or phishing helps attackers reach privileged systems, layered awareness training such as usecure is a low‑cost way to reduce that risk.

Longer‑term lessons (the stuff you put in the policy and actually enforce)

Supplier and third‑party risk management must be more than a checkbox. If your business relies on bespoke or third‑party database systems for regulated or sensitive work, your supplier contracts and procurement processes should require secure development practices, vulnerability disclosure commitments and demonstrable testing before production roll‑out.

Adopt a defence‑in‑depth approach: network segmentation, strong identity and access management, application firewalls, secure coding reviews and automated SAST/DAST as part of CI/CD. Treat legacy systems — especially bespoke ones — as potential liabilities and document the compensating controls that protect them.

How Synergos can help (links you can follow now)

If you want help mapping these steps to an actionable plan, start with an ISO 27001 risk assessment to identify exposed services and prioritise fixes. Put continuity and resilience in place via ISO 22301, and consider basic hardening and certification through Cyber Essentials / IASME for immediate baseline protection.

For training and culture change, our security awareness programmes reduce the human element of risk, while our ongoing support packages help your team stay on top of remediations without burning out your existing staff.

Final nudge

If an unauthenticated route exists into a system holding sensitive or operational records, assume it will be found and abused. Start with inventory, isolation and patching today; then embed the controls and supplier oversight that stop the same problem coming back tomorrow. A few hours spent now identifying exposed endpoints and tightening access control will save weeks of apology letters, fines and late‑night incident calls.