CAPEC-109: Object Relational Mapping Injection
Description
An attacker leverages a weakness present in the database access layer code generated with an Object Relational Mapping (ORM) tool or a weakness in the way that a developer used a persistence framework to inject their own SQL commands to be executed against the underlying database. The attack here is similar to plain SQL injection, except that the application does not use JDBC to directly talk to the database, but instead it uses a data access layer generated by an ORM tool or framework (e.g. Hibernate). While most of the time code generated by an ORM tool contains safe access methods that are immune to SQL injection, sometimes either due to some weakness in the generated code or due to the fact that the developer failed to use the generated access methods properly, SQL injection is still possible.
- Likelihood of attack
- Low
- Typical severity
- High
- Abstraction
- DetailedA low-level, detailed pattern, often for a particular technology.
Mechanism of attack: Inject Unexpected Items
Prerequisites
- An application uses data access layer generated by an ORM tool or framework
- An application uses user supplied data in queries executed against the database
- The separation between data plane and control plane is not ensured, through either developer error or an underlying weakness in the data access layer code generation framework
Skills required
- MediumKnowledge of general SQL injection techniques and subtleties of the ORM framework is needed
Consequences
- Integrity
Modify Data
- Availability
Unreliable Execution
- Confidentiality
Read Data
- ConfidentialityAccess ControlAuthorization
Gain Privileges
- ConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
Execute Unauthorized Commands
Run Arbitrary Code
Mitigations
- Remember to understand how to use the data access methods generated by the ORM tool / framework properly in a way that would leverage the built-in security mechanisms of the framework
- Ensure to keep up to date with security relevant updates to the persistence framework used within your application.