SQL injection

Classification of SQL injection attack vectors in 2010
A classification of SQL injection attacking vector as of 2010

In computing, SQL injection is a code injection technique used to attack data-driven applications, in which malicious SQL statements are inserted into an entry field for execution (e.g. to dump the database contents to the attacker).[1][2] SQL injection must exploit a security vulnerability in an application's software, for example, when user input is either incorrectly filtered for string literal escape characters embedded in SQL statements or user input is not strongly typed and unexpectedly executed. SQL injection is mostly known as an attack vector for websites but can be used to attack any type of SQL database.

SQL injection attacks allow attackers to spoof identity, tamper with existing data, cause repudiation issues such as voiding transactions or changing balances, allow the complete disclosure of all data on the system, destroy the data or make it otherwise unavailable, and become administrators of the database server. Document-oriented NoSQL databases can also be affected by this security vulnerability.[3]

In a 2012 study, it was observed that the average web application received four attack campaigns per month, and retailers received twice as many attacks as other industries.[4]

  1. ^ Microsoft. "SQL Injection". Archived from the original on August 2, 2013. Retrieved August 4, 2013. SQL injection is an attack in which malicious code is inserted into strings that are later passed to an instance of SQL Server for parsing and execution. Any procedure that constructs SQL statements should be reviewed for injection vulnerabilities because SQLi Server will execute all syntactically valid queries that it receives. Even parameterized data can be manipulated by a skilled and determined attacker.
  2. ^ Zhuo, Z.; Cai, T.; Zhang, X.; Lv, F. (April 2021). "Long short-term memory on abstract syntax tree for SQL injection detection". IET Software. 15 (2): 188–197. doi:10.1049/sfw2.12018. ISSN 1751-8806. S2CID 233582569.
  3. ^ "Hacking NodeJS and MongoDB | Websecurify Blog". Retrieved November 15, 2023.
  4. ^ Imperva (July 2012). "Imperva Web Application Attack Report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 7, 2013. Retrieved August 4, 2013. Retailers suffer 2x as many SQL injection attacks as other industries. / While most web applications receive 4 or more web attack campaigns per month, some websites are constantly under attack. / One observed website was under attack 176 out of 180 days, or 98% of the time.