The product constructs all or part of a command, data structure, or record using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify how it is parsed or interpreted when it is sent to a downstream component.
Programming languages and supporting technologies might be chosen which are not subject to these issues.
Utilize an appropriate mix of allowlist and denylist parsing to filter control-plane syntax from all input.
Many injection attacks involve the disclosure of important information -- in terms of both data sensitivity and usefulness in further exploitation.
In some cases, injectable code controls authentication; this may lead to a remote vulnerability.
Injection attacks are characterized by the ability to significantly change the flow of a given process, and in some cases, to the execution of arbitrary code.
Data injection attacks lead to loss of data integrity in nearly all cases as the control-plane data injected is always incidental to data recall or writing.
Often the actions performed by injected control code are unlogged.
Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.)
CVE-2024-5184API service using a large generative AI model allows direct prompt injection to leak hard-coded system prompts or execute other prompts.
CVE-2022-36069Python-based dependency management tool avoids OS command injection when generating Git commands but allows injection of optional arguments with input beginning with a dash (CWE-88), potentially allowing for code execution.
CVE-1999-0067Canonical example of OS command injection. CGI program does not neutralize "|" metacharacter when invoking a phonebook program.
CVE-2022-1509injection of sed script syntax ("sed injection")
CVE-2020-9054Chain: improper input validation (CWE-20) in username parameter, leading to OS command injection (CWE-78), as exploited in the wild per CISA KEV.