From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
SQL injection is a code injection technique that exploits a security vulnerability occurring in the database layer of an application. The vulnerability is present when user input is either incorrectly filtered for string literal escape characters embedded in SQL statements or user input is not strongly typed and thereby unexpectedly executed. It is an instance of a more general class of vulnerabilities that can occur whenever one programming or scripting language is embedded inside another. SQL injection attacks are also known as SQL insertion attacks.[1]
[edit] Forms of vulnerability
[edit] Incorrectly filtered escape characters
This form of SQL injection occurs when user input is not filtered for escape characters and is then passed into an SQL statement. This results in the potential manipulation of the statements performed on the database by the end-user of the application.
The following line of code illustrates this vulnerability
statement = "SELECT * FROM `users` WHERE `name` = '" + userName + "';"
This SQL code is designed to pull up the records of the specified username from its table of users. However, if the "userName" variable is crafted in a specific way by a malicious user, the SQL statement may do more than the code author intended. For example, setting the "userName" variable as
' or '1'='1
Or using comments to even block the rest of the query (there are three types of SQL comments):[2]
' or '1'='1' -- '
' or '1'='1' ({ '
' or '1'='1' /* '
renders one of the following SQL statements by the parent language:
SELECT * FROM `users` WHERE `name` = '' OR '1'='1';
SELECT * FROM `users` WHERE `name` = '' OR '1'='1' -- ';
If this code were to be used in an authentication procedure then this example could be used to force the selection of a valid username because the evaluation of '1'='1' is always true.
The following value of "userName" in the statement below would cause the deletion of the "users" table as well as the selection of all data from the "userinfo" table (in essence revealing the information of every user), using an API that allows multiple statements:
a';DROP TABLE `users`; SELECT * FROM `userinfo` WHERE 't' = 't
This input renders the final SQL statement as follows:
SELECT * FROM `users` WHERE `name` = 'a';DROP TABLE `users`; SELECT * FROM `userinfo` WHERE 't' = 't';
While most SQL server implementations allow multiple statements to be executed with one call in this way, some SQL APIs such as PHP's mysql_query(); function do not allow this for security reasons. This prevents attackers from injecting entirely separate queries, but doesn't stop them from modifying queries.
[edit] Incorrect type handling
This form of SQL injection occurs when a user supplied field is not strongly typed or is not checked for type constraints. This could take place when a numeric field is to be used in a SQL statement, but the programmer makes no checks to validate that the user supplied input is numeric. For example:
statement := "SELECT * FROM `userinfo` WHERE `id` = " + a_variable + ";"
It is clear from this statement that the author intended a_variable to be a number correlating to the "id" field. However, if it is in fact a string then the end-user may manipulate the statement as they choose, thereby bypassing the need for escape characters. For example, setting a_variable to
1;DROP TABLE `users`
will drop (delete) the "users" table from the database, since the SQL would be rendered as follows:
SELECT * FROM `userinfo` WHERE `id`=1;DROP TABLE `users`;
[edit] Blind SQL injection
Blind SQL Injection is used when a web application is vulnerable to an SQL injection but the results of the injection are not visible to the attacker. The page with the vulnerability may not be one that displays data but will display differently depending on the results of a logical statement injected into the legitimate SQL statement called for that page. This type of attack can become time-intensive because a new statement must be crafted for each bit recovered. There are several tools that can automate these attacks once the location of the vulnerability and the target information has been established.[3]
[edit] Conditional responses
One type of blind SQL injection forces the database to evaluate a logical statement on an ordinary application screen.
SELECT `booktitle` FROM `booklist` WHERE `bookId` = 'OOk14cd' AND '1'='1';
will result in a normal page while
SELECT `booktitle` FROM `booklist` WHERE `bookId` = 'OOk14cd' AND '1'='2';
will likely give a different result if the page is vulnerable to a SQL injection. An injection like this may suggest to the attacker that a blind SQL injection is possible, leaving the attacker to devise statements that evaluate to true or false depending on the contents of another column or table outside of the SELECT statement's column list.[4]
[edit] Conditional errors
This type of blind SQL injection causes an SQL error by forcing the database to evaluate a statement that causes an error if the WHERE statement is true. For example,
SELECT 1/0 FROM `users` WHERE `username`='Ralph';
the division by zero will only be evaluated and result in an error if user Ralph exists.
[edit] Time delays
Time delays are a type of blind SQL injection that cause the SQL engine to execute a long running query or a time delay statement depending on the logic injected. The attacker can then measure the time the page takes to load to determine if the injected statement is true.
[edit] Mitigation
[edit] Parameterized statements
With most development platforms, parameterized statements can be used that work with parameters (sometimes called placeholders or bind variables) instead of embedding user input in the statement. In many cases, the SQL statement is fixed, and each parameter is a scalar, not a table. The user input is then assigned (bound) to a parameter. This is an example using Java and the JDBC API:
java.sql.PreparedStatement prep = connection.prepareStatement(
"SELECT * FROM `users` WHERE USERNAME = ? AND PASSWORD = ?");
prep.setString(1, username);
prep.setString(2, password);
prep.executeQuery();
[edit] Enforcement at the database level
The H2 Database Engine supports the ability to enforce query parameterization.[5] However, one drawback is that query by example may not be possible or practical because it is difficult to implement query by example using parameterized queries.
[edit] Enforcement at the coding level
Using object-relational mapping libraries avoids the need to write SQL code. The ORM library in effect will generate parameterized SQL statements from object-oriented code.
[edit] Escaping
A straightforward, though error-prone, way to prevent injections is to escape characters that have a special meaning in SQL. This technique is called HTML sanitization The manual for an SQL DBMS explains which characters have a special meaning, which allows creating a comprehensive blacklist of characters that need translation. For instance, every occurrence of a single quote (') in a parameter must be replaced by two single quotes ('') to form a valid SQL string literal. For example, in PHP it is usual to escape parameters using the function mysql_real_escape_string(); before sending the SQL query:
$query = sprintf("SELECT * FROM `Users` WHERE UserName='%s' AND Password='%s'",
mysql_real_escape_string($Username),
mysql_real_escape_string($Password));
mysql_query($query);
Routinely passing escaped strings to SQL is error prone because it is easy to forget to escape a given string. Creating a transparent layer to secure the input can reduce this error-proneness, if not entirely eliminate it. [6]
[edit] Known real-world examples
- On November 1, 2005, a high school student used SQL injection to break into the site of a Taiwanese information security magazine from the Tech Target group and steal customers' information.[7]
- On January 13, 2006, Russian computer criminals broke into a Rhode Island government web site and allegedly stole credit card data from individuals who have done business online with state agencies.[8]
- On March 29, 2006, Susam Pal discovered an SQL injection flaw in an official Indian government tourism site.[9]
- On March 2, 2007, Sebastian Bauer discovered an SQL injection flaw in the knorr.de login page.[10]
- On June 29, 2007, a computer criminal defaced the Microsoft U.K. website using SQL injection.[11][12] U.K. website The Register quoted a Microsoft spokesperson acknowledging the problem.
- In January 2008, tens of thousands of PCs were infected by an automated SQL injection attack that exploited a vulnerability in application code that uses Microsoft SQL Server as the database store.[13]
- In July 2008, Kaspersky's Malaysian site was hacked by Turkish hacker going by the handle of "m0sted", who claimed to have used SQL injection
- On April 13, 2008, the Sexual and Violent Offender Registry of Oklahoma shut down its website for 'routine maintenance' after being informed that 10,597 Social Security numbers belonging to sex offenders had been downloaded via an SQL injection attack[14]
- In May 2008, a server farm inside China used automated queries to Google's search engine to identify SQL server websites which were vulnerable to the attack of an automated SQL injection tool. [13][15]
- In 2008, at least April through August, a sweep of attacks began exploiting the SQL injection vulnerabilities of Microsoft's IIS web server and SQL Server database server. The attack does not require guessing the name of a table or column, and corrupts all text columns in all tables in a single request.[16] A HTML string that references a malware JavaScript file is appended to each value. When that database value is later displayed to a website visitor, the script attempts several approaches at gaining control over a visitor's system. The number of exploited web pages is estimated at 500,000.[17]
- On August 17, 2009, the United States Justice Department charged an American citizen Albert Gonzalez and two unnamed Russians with the theft of 130 million credit card numbers using an SQL injection attack. In reportedly "the biggest case of identity theft in American history", the man stole cards from a number of corporate victims after researching their payment processing systems. Among the companies hit were credit card processor Heartland Payment Systems, convenience store chain 7-Eleven, and supermarket chain Hannaford Brothers.[18]
- In December 2009, an attacker breached a RockYou plaintext database containing the unencrypted usernames and passwords of about 32 million users using an SQL injection attack.[19]
- On July 2010, a South American security researcher who goes by the handle Ch Russo obtained sensitive user information from popular BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay. He gained access to the site's administrative control panel and exploited a SQL injection vulnerability that enabled him to collect user account information, including IP addresses, MD5 password hashes and records of which torrents individual users have downloaded.[20]
- On July 24-26, 2010, attackers from within Japan and China used an SQL injection to gain access to customers' credit card data from Neo Beat (an Osaka-based company) that runs a large online supermarket site. The attack also affected seven business partners including supermarket chains Izumiya Co, Maruetsu Inc and Ryukyu Jusco Co. The theft of data affected a reported 12,191 customers. As of August 14, 2010 it was reported that there have been more than 300 cases of credit card information being used by third parties to purchase goods and services in China.
- On September 19th during the 2010 Swedish general election a voter attempted a code injection by hand writing SQL commands as part of a write in vote.[21]
- On 8th November 2010 the British Royal Navy website was compromised by TinKode using SQL injection. [22][23]
- On 5th February 2011 HBGary a technology security firm was broken into by Anonymous using a SQL injection in their CMS-driven website[24]
- On March 27th 2011 mysql.com, the official homepage for MySQL, was compromised by TinKode using SQL blind injection [25]
- On April 11 2011, Barracuda Networks was compromised using an SQL injection flaw. Email addresses and usernames of employees were among the information obtained [26]
- Over a period of 4 hours on Wednesday April 27th, 2011 an automated SQL Injection attack occured on Broadband Reports website that was able to extract 8% of the username/password pairs: 8,000 random accounts of the 9,000 active and 90,000 old or inactive accounts.[27][28][29]
[edit] In popular culture
The xkcd comic "Exploits of a Mom" concerns a student named "Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--", whom his mother nicknames "Little Bobby Tables".[30] Due to this comic, the term "Little Bobby Tables attack" has become identified with SQL injection attacks.[31]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Watson, Carli (2006) Beginning C# 2005 databases ISBN 978-0-470-04406-3, pages 201-5
- ^ IBM Informix Guide to SQL: Syntax. Overview of SQL Syntax > How to Enter SQL Comments, IBM, http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/idshelp/v10/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.sqls.doc/sqls36.htm
- ^ "Using SQLBrute to brute force data from a blind SQL injection point". Justin Clarke. Archived from the original on June 14, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080614203711/http://www.justinclarke.com/archives/2006/03/sqlbrute.html. Retrieved October 18, 2008.
- ^ Ofer Maor and Amichai Shulman. "Blind SQL Injection: Getting the syntax right". Imperva. http://www.imperva.com/resources/adc/blind_sql_server_injection.html#getting_syntax_right. Retrieved Sep 18, 2008. "This is usually the trickiest part in the blind SQL injection process. If the original queries are simple, this is simple as well. However, if the original query was complex, breaking out of it may require a lot of trial and error."
- ^ "SQL Injections: How Not To Get Stuck". The Codist. May 8, 2007. http://thecodist.com/article/sql-injections-how-not-to-get-stuck. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
- ^ "Transparent query layer for MySQL". Robert Eisele. November 08, 2010. http://www.xarg.org/2010/11/transparent-query-layer-for-mysql/.
- ^ "WHID 2005-46: Teen uses SQL injection to break to a security magazine web site". Web Application Security Consortium. November 1, 2005. http://www.xiom.com/whid-2005-46. Retrieved December 1, 2009.
- ^ "WHID 2006-3: Russian hackers broke into a RI GOV website". Web Application Security Consortium. January 13, 2006. http://www.xiom.com/whid-2006-3. Retrieved May 16, 2008.
- ^ "WHID 2006-27: SQL Injection in incredibleindia.org". Web Application Security Consortium. March 29, 2006. http://www.xiom.com/whid-2006-27. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
- ^ "WHID 2007-12: SQL injection at knorr.de login page". Web Application Security Consortium. March 2, 2007. http://www.xiom.com/whid-2007-12. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
- ^ Robert (June 29, 2007). "Hacker Defaces Microsoft U.K. Web Page". cgisecurity.net. http://www.cgisecurity.net/2007/06/hacker-defaces.html. Retrieved May 16, 2008.
- ^ Keith Ward (June 29, 2007). "Hacker Defaces Microsoft U.K. Web Page". Redmond Channel Partner Online. http://rcpmag.com/news/article.aspx?editorialsid=8762. Retrieved May 16, 2008.
- ^ a b Sumner Lemon, IDG News Service (May 19, 2008). "Mass SQL Injection Attack Targets Chinese Web Sites". PCWorld. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/146048/mass_sql_injection_attack_targets_chinese_web_sites.html. Retrieved May 27, 2008.
- ^ Alex Papadimoulis (April 15, 2008). "Oklahoma Leaks Tens of Thousands of Social Security Numbers, Other Sensitive Data". The Daily WTF. http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Oklahoma-Leaks-Tens-of-Thousands-of-Social-Security-Numbers,-Other-Sensitive-Data.aspx. Retrieved May 16, 2008.
- ^ Michael Zino (May 1, 2008). "ASCII Encoded/Binary String Automated SQL Injection Attack". http://www.bloombit.com/Articles/2008/05/ASCII-Encoded-Binary-String-Automated-SQL-Injection.aspx.
- ^ Giorgio Maone (April 26, 2008). "Mass Attack FAQ". http://hackademix.net/2008/04/26/mass-attack-faq/.
- ^ Gregg Keizer (April 25, 2008). "Huge Web hack attack infects 500,000 pages". http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9080580.
- ^ "US man 'stole 130m card numbers'". BBC. August 17, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8206305.stm. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
- ^ O'Dell, Jolie (December 16, 2009). "RockYou Hacker - 30% of Sites Store Plain Text Passwords". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/external/readwriteweb/2009/12/16/16readwriteweb-rockyou-hacker-30-of-sites-store-plain-text-13200.html. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
- ^ "The pirate bay attack". July 7, 2010. http://krebsonsecurity.com/2010/07/pirate-bay-hack-exposes-user-booty/.
- ^ http://alicebobandmallory.com/articles/2010/09/23/did-little-bobby-tables-migrate-to-sweden
- ^ Royal Navy website attacked by Romanian hacker BBC News, 8-11-10, Accessed Nov 2010
- ^ Sam Kiley (November 25, 2010). "Super Virus A Target For Cyber Terrorists". http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Stuxnet-Worm-Virus-Targeted-At-Irans-Nuclear-Plant-Is-In-Hands-Of-Bad-Guys-Sky-News-Sources-Say/Article/201011415827544. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
- ^ "Anonymous speaks: the inside story of the HBGary hack". arstechnica. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/anonymous-speaks-the-inside-story-of-the-hbgary-hack.ars.
- ^ "MySQL.com compromised". sucuri. http://blog.sucuri.net/2011/03/mysql-com-compromised.html.
- ^ "Hacker breaks into Barracuda Networks database". http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/041211-hacker-breaks-into-barracuda-networks.html?hpg1=bn.
- ^ site user password intrusion info
- ^ "DSLReports says member information stolen". Cnet News. 2011-04-28. http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20058471-245.html. Retrieved 2011-04-29.
- ^ "DSLReports.com breach exposed more than 100,000 accounts". The Tech Herald. 2011-04-29. http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/201117/7127/DSLReports-com-breach-exposed-more-than-100-000-accounts. Retrieved 2011-04-29.
- ^ xkcd 327: Exploits of a Mom
- ^ Geere, Duncan (2010-09-24). "Technology Hacking Sweden's election with pen and paper". Wired.co.uk. http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-09/24/sweden-election-hack. Retrieved 14 May 2011. "This has become known as a 'Little Bobby Tables attack', after webcomic XKCD brought it to greater attention."
[edit] External links
Download Links
