CVE-2016-10551
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2016-10551 is a critical SQL injection vulnerability in waterline-sequel versions 0.50 that allows attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands through user input passed to Waterline's like, contains, startsWith, or endsWith operators. This affects any application using the vulnerable waterline-sequel module with user-controlled input in database queries. Attackers gain full database access including data theft, modification, or deletion.
💻 Affected Systems
- waterline-sequel
- Waterline ORM applications using waterline-sequel
📦 What is this software?
Waterline Sequel by Balderdash
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete database compromise allowing data exfiltration, modification, deletion, or potential remote code execution via database functions.
Likely Case
Data theft or manipulation of application data, potentially leading to authentication bypass or privilege escalation.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if input validation and parameterized queries are already implemented, though the vulnerability still exists.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation is straightforward as it involves passing SQL injection payloads through normal user input fields.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: waterline-sequel 0.5.1 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://nodesecurity.io/advisories/115
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update waterline-sequel to version 0.5.1 or later using npm update waterline-sequel. 2. Restart your application. 3. Verify the update with npm list waterline-sequel.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input validation and sanitization
allImplement strict input validation and sanitization for all user inputs passed to Waterline query operators.
Database permission reduction
allLimit database user permissions to only necessary operations (SELECT, INSERT, etc.) to reduce impact if exploited.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement application-level input validation to reject SQL-like patterns in user input
- Use parameterized queries or prepared statements instead of Waterline's vulnerable operators
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check package.json or run npm list waterline-sequel to see if version 0.50 is installed.Check Version:
npm list waterline-sequelVerify Fix Applied:
After updating, verify npm list waterline-sequel shows version 0.5.1 or higher.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual SQL query patterns in database logs
- Multiple failed login attempts or unusual query structures from single sources
Network Indicators:
- Unexpected database connections or unusual query volumes from application servers
SIEM Query:
source="database_logs" AND (query="*UNION*" OR query="*SELECT*FROM*" OR query="*DROP*" OR query="*INSERT*" OR query="*UPDATE*")