Summary
SuiteCRM's AOR report generation can place an attacker-controlled stored field label into a database ORDER BY clause without an allowlist. An authenticated user with AOR Reports access may exploit this to extract database contents or keep database connections busy with expensive expressions.
SuiteCRM's AOR report generation can place an attacker-controlled stored field label into a database ORDER BY clause without an allowlist. An authenticated user with AOR Reports access may exploit this to extract database contents or keep database connections busy with expensive expressions.
Affected context
The issue occurs in SuiteCRM's AOR report-generation flow, where field labels from stored report data are used to construct an ORDER BY clause. Deployments may be at risk when this value can be influenced by an attacker and is not restricted to approved fields before query construction. The affected flow involves AOR_Reports and aor_fields.
The issue occurs in SuiteCRM's AOR report-generation flow, where field labels from stored report data are used to construct an ORDER BY clause. Deployments may be at risk when this value can be influenced by an attacker and is not restricted to approved fields before query construction. The affected flow involves AOR_Reports and aor_fields.
Exploit preconditions
- Attack surface: AOR report generation and its database query construction
- Required access: An authenticated account with AOR Reports access
- Trigger point: Generating a report that uses a stored field label in an
ORDER BYclause - Why exploitation is possible: The field label is incorporated into a security-sensitive query without an allowlist, allowing crafted query logic to affect database behavior
- Attack surface: AOR report generation and its database query construction
- Required access: An authenticated account with AOR Reports access
- Trigger point: Generating a report that uses a stored field label in an
ORDER BYclause - Why exploitation is possible: The field label is incorporated into a security-sensitive query without an allowlist, allowing crafted query logic to affect database behavior
Why this happens
The report-generation flow concatenates an attacker-controlled stored field label into an ORDER BY clause rather than selecting from a trusted set of fields. This insecure query construction can allow input to alter the intended SQL statement, mapping to CWE-89: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command. It also relates to CWE-943, which covers improper neutralization in data query logic.
The report-generation flow concatenates an attacker-controlled stored field label into an ORDER BY clause rather than selecting from a trusted set of fields. This insecure query construction can allow input to alter the intended SQL statement, mapping to CWE-89: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command. It also relates to CWE-943, which covers improper neutralization in data query logic.
Potential impact
- Sensitive information, including password hashes, could be extracted through time-based database queries.
- Data from arbitrary database tables may be exposed.
- Expensive query expressions may hold database connections and reduce service availability.
- CRM data confidentiality and database performance may be affected.
- Sensitive information, including password hashes, could be extracted through time-based database queries.
- Data from arbitrary database tables may be exposed.
- Expensive query expressions may hold database connections and reduce service availability.
- CRM data confidentiality and database performance may be affected.
General mitigation guidance
Defensive patterns focus on ensuring that query structure is controlled by the application rather than user-influenced values.
- Build
ORDER BYclauses only from server-side allowlists of valid fields and directions. - Use parameterized queries for values, while recognizing that identifiers and sort expressions generally require explicit allowlisting.
- Treat stored labels and other persisted input as untrusted when they are later used in queries.
- Apply least-privilege database permissions and resource limits to reduce the consequences of unsafe query behavior.
- Validate report definitions against a strict schema before using them to construct queries.
Defensive patterns focus on ensuring that query structure is controlled by the application rather than user-influenced values.
- Build
ORDER BYclauses only from server-side allowlists of valid fields and directions. - Use parameterized queries for values, while recognizing that identifiers and sort expressions generally require explicit allowlisting.
- Treat stored labels and other persisted input as untrusted when they are later used in queries.
- Apply least-privilege database permissions and resource limits to reduce the consequences of unsafe query behavior.
- Validate report definitions against a strict schema before using them to construct queries.
How teams detect issues like this
- Use static analysis to identify string concatenation or interpolation of untrusted data into SQL query structure, especially
ORDER BYclauses. - Review report-generation code for field names or labels sourced from stored records and confirm they are mapped to approved identifiers.
- Enforce code-review and CI policies that require allowlists for dynamic SQL identifiers.
- Monitor database activity for unusual time-based queries, expensive expressions, or prolonged connection usage associated with report generation.
- Automated security review tools may help flag dynamic query construction for manual assessment.
- Use static analysis to identify string concatenation or interpolation of untrusted data into SQL query structure, especially
ORDER BYclauses. - Review report-generation code for field names or labels sourced from stored records and confirm they are mapped to approved identifiers.
- Enforce code-review and CI policies that require allowlists for dynamic SQL identifiers.
- Monitor database activity for unusual time-based queries, expensive expressions, or prolonged connection usage associated with report generation.
- Automated security review tools may help flag dynamic query construction for manual assessment.
