CVE-2020-4035 DoS or local data modification via malicious record IDs in WatermelonDB
Attackers can delete database records via SQL injection in WatermelonDB iOS adapter, causing app unavailability or data loss.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2020-4035?
CVE-2020-4035 is a medium-severity SQL injection vulnerability in Nozbe WatermelonDB, published on 3 Jun 2020. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In WatermelonDB (NPM package "@nozbe/watermelondb") before versions 0.15.1 and 0.16.2, a maliciously crafted record ID can exploit a SQL Injection vulnerability in iOS adapter implementation and cause the app to delete all or selected records from the database, generally causing the app to become unusable. This may happen in apps that don't validate IDs (valid IDs are `/^[a-zA-Z0-9_-.]+$/`) and use Watermelon Sync or low-level `database.adapter.destroyDeletedRecords` method. The integrity risk is low due to the fact that maliciously deleted records won't synchronize, so logout-login will restore all data, although some local changes may be lost if the malicious deletion causes the sync process to fail to proceed to push stage. No way to breach confidentiality with this vulnerability is known. Full exploitation of SQL Injection is mitigated, because it's not possible to nest an insert/update query inside a delete query in SQLite, and it's not possible to pass a semicolon-separated second query. There's also no known practicable way to breach confidentiality by selectively deleting records, because those records will not be synchronized. It's theoretically possible that selective record deletion could cause an app to behave insecurely if lack of a record is used to make security decisions by the app. This is patched in versions 0.15.1, 0.16.2, and 0.16.1-fix
Weakness: CWE-89
Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-4035?
4 open source packages ship an affected version, including @nozbe/watermelondb. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
@nozbe/watermelondb npm | All versions | 0.15.1 |
@nozbe/watermelondb npm | All versions | 0.15.1 |
@nozbe/watermelondb npm | From 0.16.0 | 0.16.2 |
@nozbe/watermelondb npm | From 0.16.0 | 0.16.2 |
Products include Nozbe Watermelondb.
How do I fix CVE-2020-4035?
Upgrade @nozbe/watermelondb to a fixed version for your release line: 0.15.1 or 0.16.2.
Use parameterised queries everywhere and never build SQL by joining strings. Upgrade affected software first; a web application firewall only buys time. More about SQL injection.
Is CVE-2020-4035 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-4035 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-38f9-m297-6q9g.