Hack Facebook Accounts with SQL Injection: A Step-by-Step Guide
Have you ever wondered how hackers can break into Facebook accounts and steal personal information, photos, messages, and more? If so, you might be interested in learning about SQL injection, a common technique used by cybercriminals to exploit web applications that use SQL databases.
SQL injection is when you insert or inject a SQL query via input data from the client to the application. Successful attacks allow an attacker to access sensitive data from the database, modify database data, potentially shut the database down or issue other admin commands, recover the contents of files, and occasionally issue commands to the operating system .
In this article, we will show you how SQL injection works and how you can use it to hack Facebook accounts. We will also give you some tips on how to prevent SQL injection attacks and protect your own web applications from hackers.
What is SQL Injection?
SQL injection is a type of injection attack, in which SQL commands are injected into data-plane input in order to affect the execution of predefined SQL commands. SQL stands for Structured Query Language, which is a standard language for accessing and manipulating databases. SQL commands are used to create, read, update, and delete data in a database.
Web applications often use SQL queries to interact with the database and display data to the user. For example, when you log in to Facebook, the web application sends a SQL query to the database to check your username and password. If they match, you are granted access to your account.
However, if the web application does not properly validate or sanitize the user input before sending it to the database, an attacker can inject malicious SQL commands into the input and trick the database into executing them. This can result in unauthorized access, data leakage, data corruption, denial of service, or even remote code execution.
How to Hack Facebook Accounts with SQL Injection?
To hack Facebook accounts with SQL injection, you need to find a web application that uses a SQL database and has a vulnerable input field that allows you to enter SQL commands. For example, a login form that accepts a username and password.
Then, you need to craft a malicious SQL query that can bypass the authentication process and log you in as any user you want. For example, if the web application uses the following SQL query to check the login credentials:
SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = '$username' AND password = '$password'
You can inject a single quote (') at the end of the username field and add a logical operator OR that always evaluates to true. For example:
username: admin' OR 1 = 1 --
password: anything
This will result in the following SQL query being sent to the database:
SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = 'admin' OR 1 = 1 -- AND password = 'anything'
The double dash (--) is a comment symbol that tells the database to ignore the rest of the query. The OR 1 = 1 condition will always be true, so the query will return all records from the users table. The first record is usually the administrator account, so you will be logged in as admin without knowing the password.
Once you are logged in as admin, you can access any user's account by changing the user ID in the URL. For example:
You can also perform other actions on the database, such as reading, modifying, or deleting data. For example, you can use the following SQL query to read all users' email addresses:
SELECT email FROM users
You can use the following SQL query to change all users' passwords:
UPDATE users SET password = 'hacked'
You can use the following SQL query to delete all users' data:
DELETE FROM users
- Stored procedures: Stored procedures are pre-written SQL queries that are stored on the database server and can be executed by the application. Stored procedures can also use parameters to accept user input, similar to parametrized queries. Stored procedures can prevent SQL injection attacks if they are written correctly and do not use dynamic SQL or concatenate user input into the query. However, stored procedures can also introduce SQL injection vulnerabilities if they are not properly validated or sanitized.
- Escaping: Escaping is the process of adding a backslash (\) before certain characters that have a special meaning in SQL, such as single quotes ('), double quotes ("), semicolons (;), and comments (--). Escaping can prevent SQL injection attacks by making the user input part of the string literal and not part of the SQL code. However, escaping can be complex and error-prone, as different database systems may have different escape characters and rules. Escaping can also be bypassed by some advanced SQL injection techniques.
- Avoiding administrative privileges: Avoiding administrative privileges is the principle of granting the least privilege to the database user that interacts with the web application. This means that the database user should only have the permissions that are necessary for the functionality of the web application, such as selecting, inserting, updating, or deleting data from specific tables. This can limit the impact of SQL injection attacks by preventing the attacker from accessing sensitive data or executing harmful commands on the database server.
- Web application firewall: A web application firewall (WAF) is a security tool that monitors and filters the incoming and outgoing web traffic between the web application and the internet. A WAF can detect and block SQL injection attacks by analyzing the HTTP requests and responses and applying predefined rules or policies. A WAF can also provide other benefits such as protection against cross-site scripting (XSS), denial-of-service (DoS), and brute force attacks.
SQL Injection Tools
SQL injection tools are software applications that help hackers or security professionals to find and exploit SQL injection vulnerabilities in web applications. SQL injection tools can automate the process of scanning, detecting, testing, and exploiting SQL injection flaws. Some of the popular SQL injection tools are:
- sqlmap: sqlmap is an open-source tool that supports various types of SQL injection techniques, such as boolean-based blind, time-based blind, error-based, UNION query-based, stacked queries, and out-of-band. sqlmap can also perform database fingerprinting, data extraction, file access, OS command execution, and more.
- Invicti: Invicti is a commercial tool that provides security scanning visibility for web applications. Invicti can detect and prevent SQL injection attacks by using advanced crawling and scanning technologies. Invicti can also generate comprehensive reports and dashboards that help users to prioritize and remediate vulnerabilities.
- Burp Scanner: Burp Scanner is a commercial tool that combines manual and automated testing for web application security. Burp Scanner can identify SQL injection vulnerabilities by using static code analysis and dynamic testing techniques. Burp Scanner can also integrate with other tools such as Burp Suite Professional and Burp Collaborator for enhanced functionality.
- jSQL Injection: jSQL Injection is a Java-based tool that supports various types of SQL injection techniques, such as normal, error-based, blind, time-based, heavy queries, and method concatenation. jSQL Injection can also perform database fingerprinting, data extraction, file access, OS command execution, shellcode injection, reverse TCP shell, and more.
- AppSpider: AppSpider is a commercial tool that supports Windows OS users for web application security testing. AppSpider can detect and prevent SQL injection attacks by using advanced crawling and scanning technologies. AppSpider can also scan script-heavy web applications that use technologies such as AJAX, SOAP/WSDL, SOAP/WCF, REST/WADL, XML, JSON, Google Web Toolkit (GWT), and CRUD operations.
SQL Injection Examples
SQL injection examples are practical demonstrations of how SQL injection attacks can be performed and what kind of damage they can cause. SQL injection examples can help developers and security professionals to understand the risks and consequences of SQL injection vulnerabilities, and how to prevent them. Here are some SQL injection examples based on different scenarios:
- Retrieving hidden data: Suppose a shopping application displays products in different categories. When the user clicks on the Gifts category, their browser requests the URL: https://insecure-website.com/products?category=Gifts This causes the application to make a SQL query to retrieve details of the relevant products from the database: SELECT * FROM products WHERE category = 'Gifts' AND released = 1 This SQL query asks the database to return all details (*) from the products table where the category is Gifts and the released flag is 1, meaning that the product is released for sale. However, an attacker can modify the URL to inject a malicious SQL command into the query. For example, by changing the URL to: https://insecure-website.com/products?category=Gifts'-- The attacker can comment out the rest of the query and bypass the released filter. This will result in the following SQL query being sent to the database: SELECT * FROM products WHERE category = 'Gifts'-- AND released = 1 This will return all products in the Gifts category, regardless of whether they are released or not. The attacker can then view products that are not intended for public display, such as upcoming or discontinued products.
- Subverting application logic: Suppose a banking application allows users to transfer money between their accounts. When the user submits a transfer request, their browser sends a POST request with parameters such as sourceAccount, destinationAccount, and amount. The application then makes a SQL query to update the balances of both accounts: UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance - $amount WHERE account = '$sourceAccount'; UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance + $amount WHERE account = '$destinationAccount'; However, an attacker can intercept and modify the POST request to inject a malicious SQL command into the query. For example, by changing the amount parameter to: 1000; DROP TABLE accounts; The attacker can append a command to delete the entire accounts table from the database. This will result in the following SQL queries being executed: UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance - 1000; DROP TABLE accounts; WHERE account = '$sourceAccount'; UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance + 1000; DROP TABLE accounts; WHERE account = '$destinationAccount'; This will cause a catastrophic loss of data and functionality for the banking application.
- UNION attacks: Suppose a blog application displays posts based on a user-supplied ID. When the user clicks on a post with ID 1, their browser requests the URL: https://insecure-website.com/post?id=1 This causes the application to make a SQL query to retrieve details of the post from the database: SELECT title, body FROM posts WHERE id = 1 However, an attacker can modify the URL to inject a malicious SQL command into the query using the UNION operator. The UNION operator allows combining the results of two or more SELECT statements into a single result set. For example, by changing the URL to: https://insecure-website.com/post?id=1 UNION SELECT username, password FROM users The attacker can join the results of another SELECT statement that retrieves usernames and passwords from
Conclusion
SQL injection is a serious web security vulnerability that can compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of web applications and databases. SQL injection attacks can allow attackers to read, modify, or delete sensitive data, execute arbitrary commands on the database server or the underlying OS, and gain unauthorized access to user accounts or system resources. Therefore, it is essential to prevent SQL injection attacks by applying various security measures and best practices, such as input validation, parametrized queries, stored procedures, escaping, avoiding administrative privileges, and using web application firewalls. SQL injection tools can help hackers or security professionals to find and exploit SQL injection vulnerabilities in web applications. However, these tools should be used ethically and responsibly for legitimate purposes only.
0f8387ec75