CVE-2020-10380
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2020-10380 is a SQL injection vulnerability in the RMySQL package for R that allows attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands through crafted input. This affects applications using RMySQL versions up to 0.10.19 to connect to MySQL/MariaDB databases. Database administrators and developers using R for data analysis with MySQL backends are primarily affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- RMySQL
📦 What is this software?
Rmysql by R Consortium
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete database compromise including data theft, modification, deletion, and potential remote code execution on the database server.
Likely Case
Unauthorized data access, data manipulation, and potential privilege escalation within the database.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper input validation and parameterized queries in place.
🎯 Exploit Status
SQL injection vulnerabilities are well-understood and easily weaponized. Exploitation requires the ability to inject SQL through RMySQL function calls.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 0.10.20 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/r-dbi/RMySQL/blob/master/NEWS.md
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Update RMySQL package using: install.packages('RMySQL')
2. Verify installation with: packageVersion('RMySQL')
3. Restart R session if needed
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Use parameterized queries
allImplement proper parameterized queries instead of string concatenation in R code
# Use dbSendQuery with parameterized queries instead of paste()
# Example: dbSendQuery(con, 'SELECT * FROM table WHERE id = ?', params = list(id_value))
Input validation
allImplement strict input validation for all user-supplied data before passing to RMySQL functions
# Validate and sanitize all user inputs
# Example: validate_input <- function(x) { if(!is.numeric(x)) stop('Invalid input') }
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement application-level input validation and sanitization for all database queries
- Use database firewall or WAF to block SQL injection patterns
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check RMySQL version: packageVersion('RMySQL') and compare to 0.10.19Check Version:
packageVersion('RMySQL')Verify Fix Applied:
Verify RMySQL version is 0.10.20 or higher: packageVersion('RMySQL') >= '0.10.20'📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual SQL query patterns from R applications
- Multiple failed login attempts or unusual query structures
Network Indicators:
- SQL injection patterns in database traffic from R applications
SIEM Query:
source="database_logs" AND (query="*UNION*" OR query="*SELECT*FROM*" OR query="*DROP*" OR query="*INSERT*" OR query="*UPDATE*") AND source_app="R"