SQL Injection Attack
SQL Injection Attack
Authors:- 17 Supesh Gawande, 12 Harshal Durge, 19 Gayatri Sangle.
A SQL injection is a security attack that is as dangerous as it is ingenious. By abusing the data input mechanisms of an application, an attacker can manipulate the generated SQL query to their advantage, which can cause catastrophic events.
Many peoples in today's generation face such kinds of attack which is harmful and dangerous. Some unauthorized persons or hackers hack different organization databases and destroying the database is a very dangerous situation for a particular organization. The database contains sensitive information related to users, employees, and progress reports of company leaks that may arise problems for the company or any other organization. SQL injection attack is also one type of database attack which is capable of destroying the whole database.
What is the SQL injection attack?
A SQL injection is a security attack that allows hackers or attackers to manipulate the SQL queries that the application sends to the database. SQL injection is a type of attack on a web application that enables an attacker to insert malicious SQL statements into the web application, potentially gaining access to sensitive data in the database or destroying this data.SQL injection was first discovered by Jeff Forristal in 1998.
In 2012 that 97% of data breaches initiate with an SQL injection attack. An SQL injection is prevalent even today and the severity of injection attacks in a web application is recognized widely.
How SQL injection attacks are working?
In an SQL injection attack, an attacker must locate a vulnerable input in a web application or webpage. When an application or webpage contains a SQL injection vulnerability, it uses user input in the form of an SQL query directly. The hacker can execute a specifically crafted SQL command as a malicious cyber intrusion. Then, leveraging malicious code, a hacker can acquire a response that provides a clear idea about the database construction and thereby access all the information in the database.
Unlike some types of cyberattacks, an SQL injection requires the target system to have an exploitable flaw. Most weaknesses arise from a lack of strict separation between program code and user-provided input.
Consider the user having login Id = “USER” and password = “SG123” these are the valid credentials. During the login process follow SQL statements are executed against the data server.
SELECT name FROM user WHERE name = “USER” AND password = “SG123”;
This query executes against the database and authenticates the user due to valid credentials. When attackers try to authenticate login credentials “Supesh” password value is the injection payload. During login, the following SQL statement executes against the database server.
SELECT name FROM user WHERE name = “USER” AND password = ‘Supesh’ OR ‘a’=‘a’;
Using this query execution hackers successfully authenticate to an application since ‘a’=‘a’ always returns true, resulting in an authentication bypass. after doing this attacker can gain:-
1). Unauthorized access to the database:-
An attacker can successfully bypass an application’s authentication mechanism to have illegitimate access to
2). Information disclosure:-
An attack could lead to a complete data leakage from the database server.
3). Loss of data availability:-
An attacker can delete records from the database server.
4). Compromised data integrity:-
As SQL statements are also used to modify or add the record, an attacker can use SQL injection to modify or add data stored in a database. This would lead to compromised data integrity.
Types of SQL injection attacks.
SQL Injection can be used in a range of ways to cause serious problems. In some cases, SQL Injection can even be used to execute commands on the database server, potentially allowing an attacker to escalate to more damaging attacks inside of a network that sits behind a firewall. So SQL attacks are classified as mainly three categories naming as In-band SQLi, Inferential SQLi, and Out-of-band SQLi. let's see each in detail.
In-band SQLi:-
In-band SQL Injection is the most common and easy-to-exploit of SQL Injection attack.
injection occurs when a hacker is able to use the same communication channel to both launch the attack and gather results.
The two most common types of in-band SQL Injection are Error-based SQLi and Union-based SQLi.
Inferential SQLi:-
Inferential SQL Injection, unlike in-band SQLi, may take longer for an attacker to exploit, however, it is just as dangerous as any other form of SQL Injection. In an inferential SQLi attack, no data is actually transferred via the web application and the attacker would not be able to see the result of an attack in-band.
The two types of inferential SQL Injection are Blind-boolean-based SQLi and Blind-time-based SQLi.
Out-of-band SQLi:-
Out-of-band SQL Injection occurs when an attacker is unable to use the same channel to launch the attack and gather results. Out-of-band techniques offer an attacker an alternative to inferential time-based techniques, especially if the server responses are not very stable. Out-of-band SQLi techniques would rely on the database server’s ability to make DNS or HTTP requests to deliver data to an attacker.
Some real-life examples of SQL injection attacks.
Over the past 10 years, many SQL injection attacks have targeted large websites, businesses, and social media platforms. Some of these attacks led to serious data breaches. A few markable examples are given below.
1. The GhostShell attack
In July 2021, the Cybereason Nocturnus and Incident Response Teams responded to Operation GhostShell, a highly-targeted cyber espionage campaign targeting the Aerospace and Telecommunications industries mainly in the Middle East, with additional victims in the U.S., Russia, and Europe. Hackers from APT group Team GhostShell targeted 53 universities using SQL injection attack methodologies.
2. Turkish government Attack
the APT group, RedHack collective, which used SQL injection to breach the Turkish government website and erase debt to government agencies. The hackers have attacked at least 30 organizations, including government ministries, embassies, and security services as well as companies and other groups, according to a Reuters review of public internet records.
3. 7-Eleven breach
a team of attackers who used SQL injection to penetrate corporate systems at several companies, primarily the 7-Eleven retail chain, stealing 130 million credit card numbers.
4. HBGary breach
Attackers related to the Anonymous activist group used SQL Injection to take down the IT security company’s website. The attack was a response to the HBGary CEO publicizing that he had the names of Anonymous organization members.
How to prevent SQL injection Attacks?
Preventing SQL injection attacks is a lot about ensuring that none of the fields are vulnerable to invalid inputs and application execution. yours is manually impossible to actually check every page and every application on the website, especially when updates are frequent and user-friendliness is the top priority. Security analysts and seasoned developers recommend a number of the subsequent points guarantee your database square measure well protected inside the confinement of the server. Some following techniques are available using this we prevent the SQL injection's dangerous attack.
1). Continuous Scanning and Penetration Testing
The automated web application scanner have been the best choice to point out vulnerabilities within web applications for quite some time now. Now, with SQL injections getting smarter at exploiting logical flaws, website security professionals should explore manual testing with the help of a security vendor.
2). Restrict Privileges
It is more of a database management function, but enforcing specific privileges to specific accounts helps prevent blind SQL injection attacks. Begin with a privileges account and move on to ‘read-only’, ‘edit’, ‘delete’, and similar privilege levels.
3) Use Query Parameters
Dynamic queries create a lot of trouble for security professionals. They have to deal with variable vulnerabilities in each application, which only gets graver with updates and changes. It is recommended that you prepare parameterized queries.
4) Instant Protection
A majority of organizations fail the problems like outdated code, scarcity of resources to test and make changes, no knowledge of application security, and frequent updates in the application. For these, web application protection is the best solution.
A managed web application firewall can be deployed for immediate mitigation of such attacks.
Conclusion
SQL injections are still a problem. Even if there are no obvious vulnerabilities, blind SQL injection techniques can uncover additional vulnerabilities. SQL injection vulnerabilities can be eliminated using prepared statements. In today's world, most people are not known about cyber attacks and their harmful effects. so the need for cyber-attack-related education is important in today's world. an increasing number of internet users day by day it's an increasing problem of exposure of sensitive data. To stop this dangerous SQL injection-like attack we need to provide education in today's world and prevent techniques in society.
References
2.https://www.acunetix.com/websitesecurity/sql-injection2/
4.https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-attack-hijack-exclusive-idUSKBN1ZQ10X
5.https://www.indusface.com/blog/how-to-stop-sql-injection/
7.https://kinsta.com/blog/sql-injection/
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