VDB
KO
MEDIUM 6.0

GHSA-cxv7-gmmp-228p

NocoDB: Postgres SQL Injection in Formula `ARRAYSORT`

Details

### Summary

An authenticated user with `columnAdd` permission on a Postgres-backed base can inject arbitrary SQL into the formula engine via the optional `direction` argument of `ARRAYSORT(...)`. The value is unrestricted by formula validation and embedded into a `knex.raw` `ORDER BY` clause, executing during column creation and on every subsequent record read of the formula column.

### Details

The vulnerability is specific to the Postgres mapping for `ARRAYSORT` in `packages/nocodb/src/db/functionMappings/pg.ts`. Two factors combine:

1. `ARRAYSORT` declares only argument count, not `validation.args.type`, so `validate-extract-tree.ts` does not enforce an allowlist on the second argument. 2. The Postgres mapping then passes the attacker-controlled value through `sanitize(knex.raw(...))` into a raw SQL fragment:

```ts const direction = pt.arguments[1] ? sanitize( knex.raw(pt.arguments[1]?.value ?? (await fn(pt.arguments[1])).builder), ) : knex.raw('asc');

return { builder: knex.raw(`ARRAY(SELECT UNNEST(??) ORDER BY 1 ??)`, [source, direction]), }; ```

`sanitize()` in `sqlSanitize.ts` only escapes `?` placeholder characters; it does not validate SQL syntax. A payload such as `"desc, (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM generate_series(1,30000000))"` is accepted, persisted, and re-executed on every read of the formula column.

### Impact

- Authenticated SQL injection against Postgres-backed bases. - Requires `columnAdd` permission (creator/owner-level). - Proven impact: attacker-controlled heavy SQL causing multi-second query stalls (DoS). - Potentially extendable to broader SQL injection outcomes depending on database permissions and deployment hardening. - Limited to Postgres backends.

### Credit

This issue was reported by [@leduckhuong](https://github.com/leduckhuong).

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Affected packages

npm / nocodb
Introduced in: 0 Fixed in: 2026.04.1
Fix npm install nocodb@2026.04.1

References