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Top 10-2017 A1-Injection
Threat Agents / Attack Vectors | Security Weakness | Impacts | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
App Specific | Exploitability EASY |
Prevalence COMMON |
Detectability AVERAGE |
Impact SEVERE |
Business ? |
Consider anyone who can send untrusted data to the system, including external users, internal users, and administrators. | Attackers send simple text-based attacks that exploit the syntax of the targeted interpreter. Almost any source of data can be an injection vector, including internal sources. | Injection flaws occur when an application sends untrusted data to an interpreter. Injection flaws are very prevalent, particularly in legacy code. They are often found in SQL, LDAP, XPath, or NoSQL queries; OS commands; XML parsers, SMTP Headers, expression languages, etc. Injection flaws are easy to discover when examining code, but frequently hard to discover via testing. Scanners and fuzzers can help attackers find injection flaws. | Injection can result in data loss or corruption, lack of accountability, or denial of access. Injection can sometimes lead to complete host takeover.
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Consider the business value of the affected data and the platform running the interpreter. All data could be stolen, modified, or deleted. Could your reputation be harmed? |
Am I Vulnerable To 'Injection'?
The best way to find out if an application is vulnerable to injection is to verify that all use of interpreters clearly separates untrusted data from the command or query. In many cases, it is recommended to avoid the interpreter, or disable it (e.g., XXE), if possible. For SQL calls, use bind variables in all prepared statements and stored procedures, or avoid dynamic queries. Checking the code is a fast and accurate way to see if the application uses interpreters safely. Code analysis tools can help a security analyst find use of interpreters and trace data flow through the application. Penetration testers can validate these issues by crafting exploits that confirm the vulnerability. Automated dynamic scanning which exercises the application may provide insight into whether some exploitable injection flaws exist. Scanners cannot always reach interpreters and have difficulty detecting whether an attack was successful. Poor error handling makes injection flaws easier to discover. |
How Do I Prevent 'Injection'?
Preventing injection requires keeping untrusted data separate from commands and queries.
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Example Attack Scenarios
Scenario #1: An application uses untrusted data in the construction of the following vulnerable SQL call: String query = "SELECT * FROM accounts WHERE custID='" + request.getParameter("id") + "'";
Query HQLQuery = session.createQuery("FROM accounts WHERE custID='" + request.getParameter("id") + "'"); In both cases, the attacker modifies the ‘id’ parameter value in her browser to send: ' or '1'='1. For example:
http://example.com/app/accountView?id=' or '1'='1
This changes the meaning of both queries to return all the records from the accounts table. More dangerous attacks could modify data or even invoke stored procedures. |
References
OWASP
External |