Introduction

Previously I written around 7 computer security related articles (mostly on web security and cyber security), and this is my first article or post on RDBMS data or database application security.

In this article I will explain in short what are sql injections and simple rules to prevent sql injections, I want to say thanks to my friend Vaibhav Shringi (DB expert and IITian) for his help to prepare this post.

What is SQL injection?

SQL injection is a type of security exploit in which the attacker adds SQL code to a Web form input box or any other manner to gain access to resources or make changes to data.

How to Prevent SQL Injection Attacks? 

Simple Rules to Prevent SQL Injections

1. Sanitize the Input:

It's absolutely vital to sanitize user inputs to insure that they do not contain dangerous codes, whether to the SQL server or to HTML itself.

We should always attempt to allow only required characters approach not to stuff “Bad characters”

There is really no benefit in allowing characters that could not be valid, and rejecting them early - presumably with an error message - not only helps forestall SQL Injection, but also catches mere typos early rather than stores them into the database.

Better prevention: White List Input Validation

2. Escape/Quotesafe the input:

We can’t sanitize the inputs which allows special characters eg. “Bill O'Reilly” is a valid name.

Always use QUOTENAME() function in SQL statements if user input are required in In-line queries.

3. Use Bound Parameters:

Though quote-safing is a good mechanism, we're still in the area of "considering user input as SQL", and a much better approach exists: bound parameters, which are supported by essentially all database programming interfaces.

Example:

            PreparedStatement ps = connection.prepareStatement(
             "SELECT email FROM member WHERE name = ?");
            ps.setString(1, formField);
            ResultSet rs = ps.executeQuery();

This is probably the single most important step one can take to secure a web application.

4. Limit database permissions and segregate users:

The web application ought to use a database connection with the most limited rights possible: query-only access to the members table, and no access to any other table. If required can move to higher rights after successful login. 

It prevents unauthorized updates/delete/drop operations.
We should not use “SA” or same level rights’ users.

 5. Use stored procedures for database access:

Use stored procedures for performing access on the application's behalf, which can eliminate SQL entirely. By encapsulating the rules for a certain action - query, update, delete, etc. - into a single procedure, it can be tested and documented on a standalone basis and business rules enforced.

Example

DB SP:

      Create PROCEDURE [dbo].[ReadUserDetails]
               
-- Add the parameters for the stored procedure here
          @userName varchar(50)
         AS
         BEGIN
           SELECT * FROM [UserDetails] where userName= @userName
         END 

C# code that’s use SP:

  public static DataTable ExecuteSelectCommand(string StoredProcedureName)
        {
            // SqlCommand cmd = null;
            var table = new DataTable();
                using (var con = new SqlConnection(GetConnectionString()))
                {
                    con.Open();
                    using (var cmd = new SqlCommand(StoredProcedureName, con))
                    {
                        cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
                        //cmd.CommandText = commandName;
                        SqlDataAdapter da = null;
                        using (da = new SqlDataAdapter(cmd))
                        {
                            da.Fill(table);
                        }
                    }
                }
            return table;
        }

6. Isolate the webserver:

Even having taken all these mitigation steps, it's nevertheless still possible to miss something and leave the server open to compromise.

Isolated webserver with limited network pinholes can assure limited access to other servers in case of full webserver control.

7. Configure error reporting:

The default error reporting for some frameworks includes developer debugging information, and this cannot be shown to outside users. Imagine how much easier a time it makes for an attacker if the full query is shown, pointing to the syntax error involved.

This information is useful to developers, but it should be restricted - if possible - to just internal users.

धन्यवाद मित्रो !! 

Thanks Friends 

TypeScript classes 

TypeScript extends JavaScript classes to include type parameters, implements clauses, accessibility modifiers, member variable declarations, and parameter property declarations in constructors.

In following example created class employee with filed “fullname” and constructor which Constructs full name and assigned to class property.

TypeScript class code example:

class Employee {
    fullname: string;
    constructor(public firstName: string, public
middleInitial: string, public lastName: string) {
        this.fullname = firstName + "
" + middleInitial + " " + lastName;
    }
}
 
var user = new Employee("Shourya", "Nagnath", "Kendre");
 
window.onload = () => {
    var elFullNameName =
document.getElementById('lblFullNameName');
    elFullNameName.innerHTML = user.fullname;
}; 

HTML code:

<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <title>TypeScript HTML App</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="app.css" type="text/css" />
      <script src="ClassesExample.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <h3>Classes example</h3>
<label id="lblFullNameName"></label>
</body>
</html>
 

Result page:

This is my 2^nd article on SQL server 2016, in this article I will explain in detail how to maintain user permissions or security.

SQL Server Security Management

A. Developers Access Control

It is very crucial to manage each user’s access rights as it can become hectic when need to manage 10-20 users with multiple permissions on their windows authentication.

To manage permissions among users, SQL has provided access management using windows groups.

Below are the steps to create any local windows group

1.  Search “Computer Management” and open it.

2.  Expand “Local Users and Groups” and then open Groups.

3.  Add new local windows user group and map windows users under it. Eg. “SQLUserGP_Read”, “SQLUserGP_Write” and “SQLUserGP_DBA”

Windows group can be added in same fashion like windows user.
It is always advisable to provide execute rights to all developers so execute below query for same.

GRANT EXECUTE TO [VSPC0129\SQLUserGP_Read]
GRANT EXECUTE TO [VSPC0129\SQLUserGP_Write]

B.  SQL/Web User Access Control

To restrict hackers from manipulate our database, we should always provide minimal access to users.
It can be done at object level and database level.

Object Level

Advisable to provide access to only required objects so that other objects can’t be accessed in case of any hacking attempts.

Database Level 

Keep all the interactions through stored procedure and user should only be allowed to execute SPs (will not have even select rights).

धन्यवाद मित्रो !! 

Thanks Friends