In today's world injection attacks present a very serious threat to cybersecurity, targeting individuals and corporate organizations alike. This menace, amongst others, according to studies, will be forcing end users, the world over, to be spending up to $212 billion on information security and risk management by the end of this year, 2025. What then is this menace all about? We shall define it below.
What Is an Injection Attack?
An injection attack can be defined as a cyberattack where an attacker inserts (or "injects") malicious code or commands into a system. This malicious command tricks the system into executing unintended actions which are mostly detrimental to the system and its user. These attacks also go on to exploit vulnerabilities in software applications that fail to properly validate or sanitize user inputs.
In everyday English, that can translate to activities like a website asking for your username, but instead of typing your name, a hacker enters a harmful command. If the website doesn’t check the input properly, it might execute that command, leading to your data being stolen by the hacker. Other scenarios include your system crashing or the hacker completely taking over your system.
What Are The Forms of Injection Attacks?
Injection attacks come in different forms, each targeting specific weaknesses in applications. The most common types of injection attacks include:
1. SQL Injection (SQLi)
When an attacker inserts malicious SQL (Structured Query Language) code into a database query, this kind of code injection attack takes place. The user's data may then be accessed, changed, or deleted by this language through database manipulation.
A practical injection attack example is a user visiting a website where a login form asks him for a username and password. Instead of entering valid credentials, an attacker inputs:
sql
' OR '1'='1
If the application doesn’t sanitize these inputs, the database might interpret this as a valid condition, granting unauthorized access to the attacker.
Web applications with database backends, such as login pages and search boxes, are frequently the target of SQL code injection attacks. They target content management systems (CMS), such as Joomla and WordPress.
These attacks exploit vulnerabilities in the system including poor input validation and dynamic SQL queries without parameterized statements.
2. Command Injection
Command injection attack is a type of injection attack where attackers inject malicious system commands into an application, which then executes them on the server’s operating system.
A common command injection attack example of this attack is when a web application allows users to ping an IP address. While at this an attacker enters:
bash
8.8.8.8; rm -rf /
If the server executes this directly, it could delete critical files on the system.
This code injection attaks targets of command injections attacks which include web servers with shell command execution features and IoT (Internet of Things) devices like home security systems or smart kitchen appliances with weak input filtering. Vulnerabilities attackers exploit in the system in these types of injection attacks are the direct execution of user-supplied input in system commands and the lack of input sanitization in the target systems.
3. XML Injection
An XML Injection has attackers manipulate the XML (eXtensible Markup Language) data processed by an application, altering its logic or extracting sensitive data.
An injection attack example of this type of injection attack is that of an attacker inputting malicious XML tags into an application uses XML to store user data like:
xml
<user><role>admin</role></user>
If the app doesn’t validate inputs, this could escalate privileges, causing access to the system and trouble.
Common targets of XML injection attacks include web services using XML like SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) which is a set of rules and standards that govern how information is exchanged between application; REST (Representational State Transfer) which is an architectural style, which is a set of principles and guidelines for designing web services; and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), which are used to allow different applications to communicate with each other.
XML injections also target enterprise applications processing XML data.
The vulnerabilities hackers can exploit when dealing with this kind of injection include poor XML parsing security and lack of input validation.
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What Are The Attacker Techniques Used In Injection Attacks?
Attackers use various techniques to exploit injection vulnerabilities in targeted systems. They include:
1. Input Manipulation: this involves inserting malicious strings into forms, URLs, or API requests.
2. Blind Injection: this comes forth when attackers exploit vulnerabilities without direct feedback. Examples of this technique are time-based SQL code injections attacks.
3. Out-of-Band Attacks: this involves using external systems like DNS requests to extract data from a targeted system.
4. Automated Tools: automated tools like SQLmap are another technique used by hackers to automate SQL injection attacks in targeted systems.
What Is The Impact Of Injection Attacks on Financial Systems?
There is no doubt that the impact of injection attacks pose significantly severe risks to the systems of individuals or financial institutions, including:
1. Data Theft: Hackers can steal sensitive information through injection attacks including credit card details, bank records, and customer information; using them to cause more trouble and losses for the victims.
2. Fraudulent Transactions: Attackers can use injection attacks in cybersecurity to manipulate databases to transfer funds illegally, stealing money right from under the noses of the organisation targeted.
3. System Downtime: these attacks can also crash banking systems, disrupting services which can cost the banks and their customers millions of dollars in losses and affect the trust customers have of their service and its security.
4. Regulatory Fines: attacks can cause regulatory bodies to fine these financial institutions for their non-compliance with security standards. As an illustration, consider PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), a set of security guidelines created to guarantee that businesses handling credit card data keep a safe environment and safeguard cardholder data. Failure to secure their environment against injection attacks at par with industry standards leads to fines and penalties.
Let's look at a real-world injection attack example. In case you are one who doesn't think these injection attacks can cause massive damage, all you need to do is go back six years to 2019, when American bank holding company Capital One suffered a massive data breach due to an SQL injection vulnerability, exposing over 100 million customer records.
The impact of injection attack here resulted in significant financial and reputational consequences for the company, as they suffered financial fines of up to $80 million from the Office of the US Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). It didn't stop there; they also suffered a class action lawsuit brought by customers who were victims of the data theft. They finally had to make settlements of up to $190 million to the victims.
This knowledge leads us to the next discussion on injection attacks, which is
Prevention and Mitigation Strategies Against Injection Attacks?
This strategy reduces the impact of injection attacks and protects systems from types of injection attacks. To defend against injection attacks, organizations should implement the following prevention and motivation strategies:
1. Input Validation & Sanitization
This move ensures that only safe and expected data is processed. This involves whitelisting inputs—allowing only predefined characters like letters and numbers—while blocking anything suspicious.
Additionally, escaping special characters (such as quotes and semicolons) neutralizes potentially harmful commands by converting them into harmless text before they reach the system.
2. Parameterized Queries (Prepared Statements)
Another critical defense mechanism is the use of parameterized queries (prepared statements) when interacting with databases. Unlike raw queries that mix code and data, parameterized queries keep them separate, significantly reducing the risk of SQL injection. This method ensures that user inputs are treated strictly as data rather than executable commands.
3. Least Privilege Principle
Applying the principle of least privilege further strengthens security by restricting database and system access to only what is absolutely necessary. By limiting permissions, even if an attacker breaches the system, the potential damage is contained.
4. Web Application Firewalls (WAFs)
Complementing the least privilege principle is web application firewalls (WAFs) which act as a protective barrier, filtering out malicious requests before they can exploit vulnerabilities in the application.
5. Regular Security Testing
Proactive security measures are equally important. Frequent security testing, including code reviews and penetration testing, aids in locating and addressing vulnerabilities before attackers can take advantage of them.
6. Safe Coding Techniques
Security is also included in programs from the beginning by encouraging secure coding standards through developer training, such as adhering to the OWASP Top 10 criteria. Organisations may greatly lower the danger of injection attacks and protect their systems from exploitation by combining these tactics.
7. Trusting Youverify
You can do all of the above and more by trusting Youverify's advanced risk assessment and fraud detection solutions which help you prevent financial losses from fraud by youverify detecting and curtailing fraudulent acts in real-time. We also help you speed up your onboarding without compromising compliance by using compliance flows that are easy for users but flag fraudsters.
Another advantage to trusting Youverify is its end-to-end customer lifecycle protection, which helps organizations monitor and flag fraudulent patterns at every step of the way throughout the customer lifecycle.
Conclusion
We have answered the question, “What is an injection attack?” and explored the types of injection attacks, injection attack examples, and the devastating impact of injection attacks on organizations.
These code injection attacks remain among the most dangerous in cybersecurity, but all these do not compare to the effectively tailored solutions offered by Youverify to ensure your organization stays on top of fraudulent activities like injection attacks and the backlash they bring from the regulatory authorities. book a demo with us today and enjoy peace of mind, knowing your systems and assets are in the safest of hands.