Input Validation / Oracle Injection

Description

Oracle Injection is an input validation vulnerability that occurs primarily in web and API applications. This type of attack is possible when an application takes user input from an Oracle database and does not properly validate or sanitize the data before using it in a database query. This type of attack exploits the database structure of the application and is classified as a CWE-89: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command (‘SQL Injection’) according to the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) directory. The OWASP Testing Guide also provides detailed information about how to detect and prevent this type of attack.

Risk

Oracle Injection can cause serious security breaches, as attackers can gain access to sensitive information, modify data, and even manipulate the entire system by using malicious code. Furthermore, if the application is exposed to the public internet, the entire system can be breached. The risk level of this vulnerability depends on the data stored in the database, the type of access allowed to users, and the level of access granted to the application.

Solution

The best way to protect against Oracle Injection is to validate all user input and to use prepared statements. Prepared statements are a set of SQL commands that are compiled into a single statement. This allows for proper parameterization of user input before it is passed to the database and ensures that the data is properly sanitized.

Example

//The following example is from CVE-2006-0051
$query = "SELECT * from users WHERE user='$user'";

In this example, the application is vulnerable to Oracle Injection, as the user input is not properly sanitized. An attacker could use malicious input to modify the query and gain access to sensitive information or manipulate the database.