Weakness (CWE)
CWE-89: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command
The product constructs all or part of an SQL command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended SQL command when it is sent to a downstream component. Without sufficient removal or quoting of SQL syntax in user-controllable inputs, the generated SQL query can cause those inputs to be interpreted as SQL instead of ordinary user data.
How to prevent it (8 mitigations)
-
Architecture and Design
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid [REF-1482].
For example, consider using persistence layers such as Hibernate or Enterprise Java Beans, which can provide significant protection against SQL injection if used properly.
-
Architecture and Design
If available, use structured mechanisms that automatically enforce the separation between data and code. These mechanisms may be able to provide the relevant quoting, encoding, and validation automatically, instead of relying on the developer to provide this capability at every point where output is generated.
Process SQL queries using prepared statements, parameterized queries, or stored procedures. These features should accept parameters or variables and support strong typing. Do not dynamically construct and execute query strings within these features using "exec" or similar functionality, since this may re-introduce the possibility of SQL injection. [REF-867]
-
Architecture and Design, Operation
Run your code using the lowest privileges that are required to accomplish the necessary tasks [REF-76]. If possible, create isolated accounts with limited privileges that are only used for a single task. That way, a successful attack will not immediately give the attacker access to the rest of the software or its environment. For example, database applications rarely need to run as the database administrator, especially in day-to-day operations.
Specifically, follow the principle of least privilege when creating user accounts to a SQL database. The database users should only have the minimum privileges necessary to use their account. If the requirements of the system indicate that a user can read and modify their own data, then limit their privileges so they cannot read/write others' data. Use the strictest permissions possible on all database objects, such as execute-only for stored procedures.
-
Architecture and Design
For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks entirely. Then, these modified values would be submitted to the server.
-
Implementation
While it is risky to use dynamically-generated query strings, code, or commands that mix control and data together, sometimes it may be unavoidable. Properly quote arguments and escape any special characters within those arguments. The most conservative approach is to escape or filter all characters that do not pass an extremely strict allowlist (such as everything that is not alphanumeric or white space). If some special characters are still needed, such as white space, wrap each argument in quotes after the escaping/filtering step. Be careful of argument injection (CWE-88).
Instead of building a new implementation, such features may be available in the database or programming language. For example, the Oracle DBMS_ASSERT package can check or enforce that parameters have certain properties that make them less vulnerable to SQL injection. For MySQL, the mysql_real_escape_string() API function is available in both C and PHP.
-
Implementation
Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, "boat" may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as "red" or "blue."
Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code's environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright.
When constructing SQL query strings, use stringent allowlists that limit the character set based on the expected value of the parameter in the request. This will indirectly limit the scope of an attack, but this technique is less important than proper output encoding and escaping.
Note that proper output encoding, escaping, and quoting is the most effective solution for preventing SQL injection, although input validation may provide some defense-in-depth. This is because it effectively limits what will appear in output. Input validation will not always prevent SQL injection, especially if you are required to support free-form text fields that could contain arbitrary characters. For example, the name "O'Reilly" would likely pass the validation step, since it is a common last name in the English language. However, it cannot be directly inserted into the database because it contains the "'" apostrophe character, which would need to be escaped or otherwise handled. In this case, stripping the apostrophe might reduce the risk of SQL injection, but it would produce incorrect behavior because the wrong name would be recorded.
When feasible, it may be safest to disallow meta-characters entirely, instead of escaping them. This will provide some defense in depth. After the data is entered into the database, later processes may neglect to escape meta-characters before use, and you may not have control over those processes.
-
Architecture and Design
When the set of acceptable objects, such as filenames or URLs, is limited or known, create a mapping from a set of fixed input values (such as numeric IDs) to the actual filenames or URLs, and reject all other inputs.
-
Implementation
Ensure that error messages only contain minimal details that are useful to the intended audience and no one else. The messages need to strike the balance between being too cryptic (which can confuse users) or being too detailed (which may reveal more than intended). The messages should not reveal the methods that were used to determine the error. Attackers can use detailed information to refine or optimize their original attack, thereby increasing their chances of success.
If errors must be captured in some detail, record them in log messages, but consider what could occur if the log messages can be viewed by attackers. Highly sensitive information such as passwords should never be saved to log files.
Avoid inconsistent messaging that might accidentally tip off an attacker about internal state, such as whether a user account exists or not.
In the context of SQL Injection, error messages revealing the structure of a SQL query can help attackers tailor successful attack strings.
Source: MITRE CWE-89
13,971 results · Feed
-
High 7.3
SourceCodester Simple Online Food Ordering System view_prod.php sql injection
A vulnerability was detected in SourceCodester Simple Online Food Ordering System 1.0. Impacted is an unknown function of the file /fos/view_prod.php. Performing a manipulation of the argument ID results in sql injection. Remote exploitation of the attack is …
-
High 7.3
SourceCodester Simple Online Food Ordering System ajax.php add_to_cart sql injection
A security vulnerability has been detected in SourceCodester Simple Online Food Ordering System 1.0. This issue affects some unknown processing of the file /fos/admin/ajax.php?action=add_to_cart. Such manipulation of the argument pid leads to sql injection. T…
-
High 7.3
SourceCodester Simple Online Food Ordering System ajax.php save_user sql injection
A weakness has been identified in SourceCodester Simple Online Food Ordering System 1.0. This vulnerability affects unknown code of the file /fos/admin/ajax.php?action=save_user. This manipulation of the argument Username causes sql injection. The attack may …
-
Medium 6.3
itsourcecode Sales and Inventory System cust_edit.php sql injection
A vulnerability was detected in itsourcecode Sales and Inventory System 1.0. The impacted element is an unknown function of the file /pages/cust_edit.php. The manipulation of the argument ID results in sql injection. The attack can be executed remotely. The e…
-
High 7.3
Shenzhen Gongji Technology XBROTHER Dynamic Environment Monitoring System plansImmediate PlanController.getImmediatePlans sql injection
A security vulnerability has been detected in Shenzhen Gongji Technology XBROTHER Dynamic Environment Monitoring System up to 300R004C00B300. The affected element is the function PlanController.getImmediatePlans of the file /xbreport/api/v1/plamange/plansImme…
-
High 7.3
itsourcecode Sales and Inventory System processlogin.php sql injection
A vulnerability has been found in itsourcecode Sales and Inventory System 1.0. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the file /pages/processlogin.php. The manipulation of the argument User leads to sql injection. It is possible to init…
-
High 7.3
code-projects Barangay Resident Profiling Management System Resident Search Functionality residents.php sql injection
A vulnerability was determined in code-projects Barangay Resident Profiling Management System 1.0. Affected is an unknown function of the file residents.php of the component Resident Search Functionality. This manipulation of the argument Search causes sql in…
-
Medium 6.3
itsourcecode Hospital Management System Project in PHP viewservicetype.php sql injection
A flaw has been found in itsourcecode Hospital Management System Project in PHP 1.0. This impacts an unknown function of the file /viewservicetype.php. This manipulation of the argument delid causes sql injection. The attack may be initiated remotely. The exp…
-
Medium 6.3
sambitraj Student-Management-System Management Mutation sql injection
A flaw has been found in sambitraj Student-Management-System up to 56ba287f2e9031523ccb4244cb6e3fe530e4e5d5. This affects an unknown part of the component Management Mutation Handler. This manipulation of the argument roll_no/name/father_name/class/mobile/ema…
-
Medium 6.3
sambitraj Student-Management-System Dashboard sql injection
A vulnerability was detected in sambitraj Student-Management-System up to 56ba287f2e9031523ccb4244cb6e3fe530e4e5d5. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the component Dashboard. The manipulation of the argument roll_no/teacher_name results …
-
Critical 9.3
Joomla Extension - fabrikar.com - Unauthenticated SQL injection in ORDER BY in Fabrik < 4.7.2
Joomla Extension - fabrikar.com - Unauthenticated SQL injection in ORDER BY in Fabrik < 4.7.2 - The order parameter in list models is used in queries without validation, allowing read SQLi vectors.
-
Critical 9.3
Joomla Extension - fabrikar.com - Unauthenticated SQL injection in list filter condition parameter in Fabrik < 4.7.2
Joomla Extension - fabrikar.com - Unauthenticated SQL injection in list filter condition parameter in Fabrik < 4.7.2 - The condition parameter passed to a list filter is concatenated verbatim into the WHERE clause built by getFilterQuery(). An unauthenticated…
-
Critical 9.8
GeoTools has unauthenticated SQL injection in the jsonArrayContains filter function against PostGIS layers
GeoTools is an open source Java library that provides tools for geospatial data. Starting in version 30.5 and prior to versions 33.6, 34.5, and 33.6, an SQL Injection Vulnerability is present when executing OGC Filters with PostGIS DataStore implementation: `…
-
Medium 5.9
KEDA: PostgreSQL connection string parameter injection via incomplete whitespace escaping
KEDA is a Kubernetes-based Event Driven Autoscaling component. Prior to 2.20.0, pkg/scalers/postgresql_scaler.go constructs libpq-style connection strings from tenant-controlled host, port, userName, dbName, sslmode, and password values, while escapePostgreCo…
-
High 8.6
Joomla Extension - yootheme.com - Authenticated, privileged SQL injection in YOOtheme Pro 1.0.0-5.0.40
Joomla Extension - yootheme.com - Authenticated, privileged SQL injection in YOOtheme Pro 1.0.0-5.0.40 - An SQL injection allowed any contributor-level user to inject own content into SQL queries.
-
Medium 6.8CVE-2026-16959 Scanner template
Media Library Assistant < 3.40 - Author+ SQL Injection via mla_search_connector
The Media Library Assistant WordPress plugin before 3.40 does not validate a search parameter before concatenating it into a SQL query in one of its media-library query handlers, allowing users with the Author role to perform SQL injection.
-
Medium 6.8
Link Whisper < 0.9.7 - Editor+ SQL Injection via domain Parameter
The Link Whisper Free WordPress plugin before 0.9.7 does not properly sanitize and escape a parameter before using it in a SQL query, allowing authenticated users with the Editor role or above to perform SQL injection attacks.
-
Medium 6.3
SourceCodester Dynamic Input Field Generator Using HTML, CSS, and PHP submit.php saveUser sql injection
A weakness has been identified in SourceCodester Dynamic Input Field Generator Using HTML, CSS, and PHP 1.0. This impacts the function saveUser of the file /public/submit.php. This manipulation of the argument Researcher causes sql injection. The attack may b…
-
Critical 9.9
Azure SQL Database Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
Improper neutralization of special elements used in an sql command ('sql injection') in Azure SQL Database allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network.
-
Critical 9.9
Azure SQL Database Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
Improper neutralization of special elements used in an sql command ('sql injection') in Azure SQL Database allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network.
-
High 8.5
BigBlueButton: Blind SQL Injection AUTH (Moderator)
BigBlueButton is an open-source virtual classroom. Prior to 3.0.23, BigBlueButton allowed authenticated moderators to inject SQL through the meetingId and userId values used by refreshBreakoutRoomsVisibleForUsers in akka-bbb-apps/src/main/scala/org/bigbluebut…
-
Medium 6.3
itsourcecode Hospital Management System viewappointmentpending.php sql injection
A weakness has been identified in itsourcecode Hospital Management System 1.0. This affects an unknown part of the file /viewappointmentpending.php. This manipulation of the argument delid causes sql injection. The attack is possible to be carried out remotel…
-
High 7.3
CodeAstro Apartment Visitor Management System password-recovery.php sql injection
A vulnerability was identified in CodeAstro Apartment Visitor Management System 1.0. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the file password-recovery.php. The manipulation of the argument email leads to sql injection. Remote exploitati…
-
High 7.3
CodeAstro Apartment Visitor Management System forgotpw.php sql injection
A vulnerability was determined in CodeAstro Apartment Visitor Management System 1.0. Affected is an unknown function of the file /apartment-visitor/forgotpw.php. Executing a manipulation of the argument secode can lead to sql injection. The attack may be laun…
-
Critical 9.8CVE-2026-63039 Public exploit
Apache InLong: SQL Injection via Unvalidated MyBatis Dollar-Sign Interpolation in AuditAlertRuleService
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in Apache InLong. This allows an attacker to inject the string value into the SQL statement, enabling SQL injection. This issue affects Apache InLong: from 2.0.…
-
Critical 9.8
Apache InLong: SQL Injection via String Concatenation Vulnerability Report
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in Apache InLong. This allows an attacker to inject arbitrary SQL code through the dbName, tableName, schemaName, and username parameters. This issue affects A…
-
Critical 9.8
Apache InLong: Unauthenticated SQL injection in Manager OpenAPI audit alert rule list endpoint
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in Apache InLong. This appears to allow SQL injection in the ORDER BY clause against the Manager backend database. This issue affects Apache InLong: from 2.0.0 …
-
High 7.3
SourceCodester Simple Online Food Ordering System ajax.php delete_category sql injection
A security vulnerability has been detected in SourceCodester Simple Online Food Ordering System 1.0. The impacted element is an unknown function of the file /admin/ajax.php?action=delete_category. Such manipulation of the argument ID leads to sql injection. I…
-
Medium 6.3
SourceCodester Simple Online Food Ordering System ajax.php save_category sql injection
A weakness has been identified in SourceCodester Simple Online Food Ordering System 1.0. The affected element is an unknown function of the file /admin/ajax.php?action=save_category. This manipulation of the argument ID causes sql injection. It is possible to…
-
High 7.3
SourceCodester Simple Online Food Ordering System view_order.php sql injection
A security flaw has been discovered in SourceCodester Simple Online Food Ordering System 1.0. Impacted is an unknown function of the file /fos/admin/view_order.php. The manipulation of the argument ID results in sql injection. The attack may be performed from…
-
Medium 6.3
itsourcecode Hospital Management System viewappointmentapproved.php sql injection
A vulnerability was found in itsourcecode Hospital Management System 1.0. This affects an unknown part of the file /viewappointmentapproved.php. Performing a manipulation of the argument delid results in sql injection. Remote exploitation of the attack is pos…
-
High 7.2
baserCMS < 5.3.0 SQL Injection and Code Injection via BcDatabaseService.php
baserCMS before 5.3.0 contains a SQL injection vulnerability in BcDatabaseService.php that allows authenticated administrators to inject attacker-controlled table names and configuration values directly into SQL statements across sequence update, CSV export, …
-
High 7.3
code-projects Simple Inventory System delete.php sql injection
A vulnerability has been found in code-projects Simple Inventory System 1.0. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the file /delete.php. Such manipulation of the argument ID leads to sql injection. The attack may be launched remotely. The ex…
-
High 7.6
WordPress InfiniteWP Client plugin <= 1.13.9 - SQL Injection vulnerability
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in revmakx InfiniteWP Client allows Blind SQL Injection. This issue affects InfiniteWP Client: from n/a through 1.13.9.
-
High 8.5
WordPress eShipper Commerce plugin <= 2.16.13 - SQL Injection vulnerability
Subscriber SQL Injection in eShipper Commerce <= 2.16.13 versions.
-
High 8.5
WordPress WP w3all phpBB plugin <= 3.0.5 - SQL Injection vulnerability
Subscriber SQL Injection in WP w3all phpBB <= 3.0.5 versions.
-
Critical 9.3
WordPress BookingPress Appointment Booking Pro plugin <= 6.0.2 - SQL Injection vulnerability
Unauthenticated SQL Injection in BookingPress Appointment Booking Pro <= 6.0.2 versions.
-
Critical 9.3
WordPress Locatoraid Store Locator plugin <= 3.9.72 - SQL Injection vulnerability
Unauthenticated SQL Injection in Locatoraid Store Locator <= 3.9.72 versions.
-
Critical 9.3
WordPress Directory Pro plugin <= 2.5.8 - SQL Injection vulnerability
Unauthenticated SQL Injection in Directory Pro <= 2.5.8 versions.
-
Critical 9.3
WordPress TheGem (Elementor) theme <= 5.12.3 - SQL Injection vulnerability
Unauthenticated SQL Injection in TheGem (Elementor) <= 5.12.3 versions.