VDB
Sign up
HIGH8.8

GHSA-xwqr-rcqg-22mr

Flight vulnerable to SQL Injection via unvalidated identifiers in SimplePdo::insert / update / delete

Quick fix

GHSA-xwqr-rcqg-22mr — flightphp/core: upgrade to the fixed version with the command below.

composer require flightphp/core:^3.18.1

Details

### Summary `SimplePdo::insert()`, `SimplePdo::update()`, and `SimplePdo::delete()` build SQL statements by concatenating the `$table` argument and the **keys** of the `$data` array directly into the query, with no identifier quoting and no validation. When an application forwards user-controlled data shapes to these helpers — a common and documented pattern, e.g. `$db->insert('users', $request->data->getData())` — an attacker can inject arbitrary SQL by crafting malicious array keys.

### Affected code `flight/database/SimplePdo.php`:

```php // insert (≈ 320-373) $sql = sprintf( "INSERT INTO %s (%s) VALUES (%s)", $table, // raw concat implode(', ', $columns), // raw array_keys($data) implode(', ', $placeholders) );

// update (≈ 397-409) $sets[] = "$column = ?"; // $column = user-controlled key $sql = sprintf( "UPDATE %s SET %s WHERE %s", $table, // raw implode(', ', $sets), $where );

// delete (≈ 427-429) $sql = "DELETE FROM $table WHERE $where"; ```

No identifier-quoting helper exists; neither `$table` nor the data keys are validated against a safe-identifier pattern.

### Proof of concept A controller does: ```php $db->insert('users', $request->data->getData()); ```

The attacker sends the JSON body: ```json {"name, is_admin) VALUES (?, 1);-- ": "attacker_injected"} ```

Generated SQL: ```sql INSERT INTO users (name, is_admin) VALUES (?, 1);-- ) VALUES (?) ```

After the `--` comment, the effective statement `INSERT INTO users (name, is_admin) VALUES (?, 1)` binds the single placeholder `'attacker_injected'`, yielding a row with `is_admin = 1`.

Reproduced live on an in-memory sqlite database (`testproj/sqli_live2.php`):

``` id=1 name=alice is_admin=0 id=2 name=attacker_injected is_admin=1 <-- injected insert ```

`UPDATE` injection via the `$where` parameter was also reproduced: `$db->update('users', ['is_admin' => 1], "id = 1 OR 1=1")` flips admin on every row.

### Impact - **Privilege escalation** on any signup / register endpoint that forwards request data to `insert()` (attacker creates an administrative account in a single request). - Arbitrary column write through `update()` keys. - Data destruction and exfiltration through the `$where` parameter (`DELETE FROM users WHERE 1=1`, UNION-based exfil, etc.).

### Patch (fixed in `3.18.1`, commit `b8dd23a`) A new `requireSafeIdentifier()` helper validates table names and column names against `^[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$` before they are interpolated into the SQL string. The `$where` parameter remains raw SQL as documented — parameterized values passed alongside it continue to be bound safely.

### Credit Discovered by **@Rootingg**.

Are you affected?

Enter the version of the package you're using.

Affected packages

Packagist/flightphp/core
Introduced in: 0Fixed in: 3.18.1
Fixcomposer require flightphp/core:^3.18.1

References