Updated March 14, 2023
Introduction to NoSQL Injection
The NoSQL injection is defined as it is a misconception in a web application that can use a NoSQL database and it is different from SQL injection. The data cleaning has been done after doing the NoSQL injection attacks, and the attacks of NoSQL are threatening because they will directly inject into code and be implemented over the server in the language which has been used for web applications. Injection has been allowing attackers to insert a code into the commands for databases in which they are not able to use SQL queries similar to the MongoDB which allows random code execution.
What is NoSQL Injection?
Injection is a misconception in the web application in which it can attack the web applications which has been built on the MongoDB, Angular, and, Node, and it is a type of attacks out of many injection attacks which are similar to SQL injections, as it has been plotted to utilize modern databases which are not using the SQL, the term NoSQL means not only SQL express the databases which may use a smaller inflexible structure and that may relate to various kind of databases.
Injection is able to implement at various areas of the application and when it has been with MongoDB then it can be able to construct queries from strings.
NoSQL injection MongoDB
Let us discuss the Injection MongoDB, in which it can use the binary JSON data format and it occurs with the secured Binary query tool and the queries in it also represented in BSON objects hence the direct injection is not possible in MongoDB, and it allows to run the JavaScript application over the server and under the ‘$where’ and ‘MapReduce operation’,
Let us see an example of MongoDB injection in PHP, in which while basic authentication the attacker can try to go into MongoDB operators in the form of field values, that is $equ means equals, $neq means not equals, and $grt means greater than, the query will be,
"$query = array ("user" => $_POST["uname"], "pwd" =>
$_POST["pwd"]);".- If the above query has been used to check the login information, then the attacker can misuse the PHP’s in-built combining array for injecting the query into the MongoDB query which can always give back the true value,
"uname[$neq]=1&pwd[$neq]=1"- And the PHP will interpret the above into an array of arrays:
"array("uname" => array("$neq" => 1), "pwd" =>
array("$neq" => 1));"When this query has been sent as a MongoDB query to the user store then this will search for all users having username and password is not equal to one, which will give back the true value and that may allow an attacker to bypass the authentication.
NoSQL injection JavaScript
Let us discuss how Injection attacks on MongoDB, however, the MongoDB has in-built security in it so it is more secure, the MongoDB documentation contains three operations, ‘$where’, ‘MapReduce’, and ‘group’, in which the ‘$where’ has been used to move either a string containing JavaScript expression or a full JavaScript function to the query system, it means that ‘$where’ can be used by as query operator with unauthorized user.
- Let us see an example of JavaScript injection in MongoDB, in which if we try to write the query with MongoDB data store then ‘$where’ operator has been used with ‘find()’ function, such as,
"db.collection.find( {$where: function() {return (this.name == 'Nosqlinjection') } } );".- The above query will find the name ‘Nosqlinjection’, some PHP applications will take the user input at the time of query construction, e.g., ‘$userInfo’:
"db.collection.find({$where: function() {
return (this.name == $userInfo)}});"- The attacker may try to search with ‘b’ into the ‘userInfo’ and if the injection has been done successfully then the server stop for 5 minutes, and the following query will be implemented successfully,
"db.collection.find( { $where: function(){return (this.name == 'b'; sleep(4000) )}});"This can be the one type of possible injection.
Avoid NoSQL Injection
Injection is more threatening than the traditional SQL injection because striker can not only take out information from the database but also implement the code in the surrounding of the application, for example, if attackers want to hack the admin user accounts and it can take control over the server such type of attacks are very dangerous.
Regarding the security of the web application, the finest way to stop the NoSQL attack is to avoid using the un-sanitized user input in the code of the application particularly when we trying to construct the database queries, as the MongoDB has the in-built feature of securing the query and it can able to build without JavaScript.
NoSQL Injection attacks
Let us discuss the injection attacks, in which the MongoDB which is a NoSQL database that cannot use the SQL for performing queries because they perform the queries as per the user input it means they are quite at risk for injecting the attacks if developers do not properly carry out the input data clearance, the NoSQL and SQL injection has a difference in only how the syntax they used and what grammar they used, unexpectedly if we try to perform injection with SQL injection using string then it may be successful, as the database does not have any systemized language.
Typically, injection has been done via drivers by considering the drivers may not be vulnerable but the APIs which are not safe may come with them, as we have seen the SQL injection may happen when the queries come from the users are un-sanitized and it having malicious input that can execute a command in the database as SQL cannot perform on NoSQL.
Conclusion
In this article we conclude that the NoSQL injection is an error in a web application that can damage the application and that must have to prevent dynamically, we have also discussed the NoSQL attacks, how to avoid the NoSQL injection, NoSQL injection with MongoDB, and NoSQL injection with the JavaScript.
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