I have to add a statement to my java program to update a database table:
String insert =
"INSERT INTO customer(name,address,email) VALUES('" + name + "','" + addre + "','" + email + "');";
I heard that this can be exploited through an SQL injection like:
DROP TABLE customer;
My program has a Java GUI and all name, address and email values are retrieved from Jtextfields. I want to know how the following code (DROP TABLE customer;) could be added to my insert statement by a hacker and how I can prevent this.
You need to use PreparedStatement.
e.g.
String insert = "INSERT INTO customer(name,address,email) VALUES(?, ?, ?);";
PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(insert);
ps.setString(1, name);
ps.setString(2, addre);
ps.setString(3, email);
ResultSet rs = ps.executeQuery();
This will prevent injection attacks.
The way the hacker puts it in there is if the String you are inserting has come from input somewhere - e.g. an input field on a web page, or an input field on a form in an application or similar.
I want to know how this kind piece of code("DROP TABLE customer;") can
be added to my insert statement by a hacker
For example:
name = "'); DROP TABLE customer; --"
would yield this value into insert:
INSERT INTO customer(name,address,email) VALUES(''); DROP TABLE customer; --"','"+addre+"','"+email+"');
I specially want to know how can I prevent this
Use prepared statements and SQL arguments (example "stolen" from Matt Fellows):
String insert = "INSERT INTO customer(name,address,email) VALUES(?, ?, ?);";
PreparedStament ps = connection.prepareStatment(insert);
Also parse the values you have on such variables and make sure they don't contain any non-allowed characters (such as ";" in a name).
You can check THIS article for info on that! :)
I recommend Parameterized Queries:
String selectStatement = "SELECT * FROM User WHERE userId = ? ";
PreparedStatement prepStmt = con.prepareStatement(selectStatement);
prepStmt.setString(1, userId);
ResultSet rs = prepStmt.executeQuery();
An attacker just has to enter something like 'foo#example.com"); DROP TABLE customer; into the field for email and you are done.
You can prevent this by using the proper escaping for JDBC Statements.
That's why you should be using question marks in your string statements:
PreparedStatement pstmt = con.prepareStatement("UPDATE EMPLOYEES
SET SALARY = ? WHERE ID = ?");
pstmt.setBigDecimal(1, 153833.00)
pstmt.setInt(2, 110592)
quoted from here
As explained in this post, the PreparedStatement alone does not help you if you are still concatenating Strings.
For instance, one rogue attacker can still do the following:
call a sleep function so that all your database connections will be busy, therefore making your application unavailable
extracting sensitive data from the DB
bypassing the user authentication
And it's not just SQL, but JPQL and HQL can be compromised if you are not using bind parameters:
PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(
INSERT INTO customer(name,address,email) VALUES(?, ?, ?)
);
int index = 0;
ps.setString(++index, name);
ps.setString(++index, address);
ps.setString(++index, email);
ResultSet rs = ps.executeQuery();
Bottom line, you should never use string concatenation when building SQL statements. Use a dedicated API for that purpose:
JPA Criteria API
jOOQ
Go for PreparedStatement
Advantages of a PreparedStatement:
Precompilation and DB-side caching of the SQL statement leads to overall faster execution and the ability to reuse the same SQL statement in batches.
Automatic prevention of SQL injection attacks by builtin escaping of quotes and other special characters. Note that this requires that you use any of the PreparedStatement setXxx() methods to set the value
You should also limit the privileges of the account that accesses the database as tightly as possible. For example, for searching, the account only needs to have read access to those tables and columns that are required. This will prevent any damaging SQL injection and limit access to sensitive data.
Even though all the other answers tell you as how can you fix SQL injections in Java, answer by Mukesh Kumar actually tells you as who is actually preventing these kind of attacks. Understand that its actually DB server which is preventing SQL injection attacks provided you as a programmer follow their recommendation of using parametrized queries.
Refer Here - Preventing SQL Injection Vulnerabilities
It wouldn't be possible for Java programmer to sanitize each & every input String so DB vendors have given us options of Prepared Statements and they tell us to prepare & execute queries by using that & rest of the things will be taken care of by the DB vendor.
Things as drastic as DROP TABLE customer; might not happen but basic premise of SQL injection is that nobody should be able to break your query by just providing invalid input ( either intentional or non - intentional ).
OWASP - SQL Injection Prevention Cheat Sheet
Im writing a java program and I have a SQL statement that currently is outputting wrong:
so the code is:
String sql = "SELECT Name from Users WHERE Name LIKE "+t;
and the Output is:
SELECT Name from Users WHERE Name LIKE David
But I need it to be with single quotes how can I add that to be like:
SELECT Name from Users WHERE Name LIKE 'David'
how can I add those quotes?
Many thanks for the help
This is a very common mistake. I'm guessing you are using Statement class to create your query and executing it.
I'd like to suggest that you use prepared statements. It'll since your issue and help you with further issues.
PreparedStatement ps = yourconn.prepareStatement("select name from users where name like ?");
ps.setString(1,yoursearchedusername);
ResultSet rs = ps.executeQuery();
This will add your quotes. Plus it will prevent from sql injection attacks in future.
Your current query will also cause issues of your actual query has ' or ? Or any other sql wild card. Prepared statement avoids all these issues and helps with performance by having the sql already compiled and stored at db layer (if enabled)
Use a prepared statement to prevent sql injections.
String searchedName = "cdaiga";
String sql = "SELECT Name from Users WHERE UPPER(Name) LIKE '%?%'";
PreparedStatement preparedStatement = dbConnection.prepareStatement(sql);
preparedStatement.setString(1, (searchedName!=null? searchedName.toUpper(): ""));
// execute the SQL stetement
preparedStatement .executeUpdate();
ResultSet rs = preparedStatement.executeQuery();
// print the results if any is returned
while (rs.next()) {
String name= rs.getString("Name");
System.out.println("name: " + name);
}
Note that a case insensitive search would be appropriate.
I have a search query which must search a column in a table using contains search. There is ctxsys.context type index on the column. While fetching data on the table using prepared statement, the search query is not able to process special characters like -,/,_ etc.
Here is my code -
String query = "select * from parties where contains (party_name ,'%' || ? || '%')>0";
PreparedStatement ps = con.prepareStatement(query);
ps.setString(1, searchName);
The code works fine for text which doesn't have special characters.
When I run the below query in sqlDeveloper it runs fine .
select * from parties where contains(party_name,'c/o')>0;
Please suggest what changes should I make in the prepared statement to make it work for special characters too.
Please refer to this question on how to use contains in prepared statement.
PreparedStatement with CONTAINS query
You have to use escape in your queries if the above didint work
like
SELECT * FROM BIRDS WHERE SPECIES='Williamson's Sapsucker
statement.executeQuery("SELECT * FROM BIRDS WHERE SPECIES='Williamson/'s Sapsucker' {escape '/'}");
reference from http://www.jguru.com/faq/view.jsp?EID=8881
I'm facing an issue with insertion to SQL database from java code.
I'm using INSERT sql query using the java code to enter the data from XML file to SQL database.
You may suppose column named "Description".
Imagine there is a record in XML which contains apostrophe ('). The program crashes due to the error caused by the apostrophe which is included in the data.
I know that manually we can add another apostrophe and make it work, but imagine data of 10.000 records, how can we handle this issue?
Don't do this (string concatenation):
String sql = "insert into MyTable (description) values ('" + value + "')";
Statement st = connection.createStatement();
st.executeUpdate(sql);
Do do this (prepared statement):
PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(
"insert into MyTable (description) values (?)"
);
ps.setString(1, value);
pt.executeUpdate();
The value will get correctly escaped for you. Not only does this protect against mishaps like the one you mentioned, it also helps defend you from SQL injection attacks.
Humorous illustration:
Source
You have two options, you should use PreparedStatement and bind your parameter(s). Or, if you really, really, want - you could use StringEscapeUtils.escapeSql(str).
I'm trying to connect to an MSAccess database and retrieve some data.
With simple examples all runs well but if i'm going to use some
where clauses i get no data.
This example is ok:
PreparedStatement stm = con.prepareStatement("SELECT A.* FROM A");
ResultSet rs = stm.executeQuery();
rs.next();
The next example get no rows:
PreparedStatement stm = con.prepareStatement("SELECT A.* FROM A WHERE (((A.Name) LIKE ?))");
stm.setString(1,"*");
ResultSet rs = stm.executeQuery();
rs.next();
I don't know where the error lies: in the driver or in the sql syntax.
The sql statement is taken from the query builder in MSAccess.
All what is a little bit more complex in a where clause is a really hard to figure out. Is there any documentation reagrding sql syntax of MSAccess ?
Update
Yes in the jdbc sql statement i have to use "SQL standard" % wildcard while the Access sql builder is using *. Now going to query with dates =8-o
For the like statement to work you have to put the parameter between %:
PreparedStatement stm = con.prepareStatement("SELECT A.* FROM A WHERE (((A.Name) LIKE ?))");
stm.setString(1,"%like text%");
Do you, by any chance, mean the SQL wildcard character, '%', instead of '*', or are you literally looking for the character '*'?