SQLite is an embedded, file-based database with no server or user accounts, so injection against it has a different shape from the client-server engines. Several traits matter.
There is no information_schema; the schema lives in sqlite_master (aliased sqlite_schema in newer versions), whose sql column stores each object's CREATE statement and therefore reveals column names directly. There is no SLEEP, so time-based inference uses a deliberately expensive expression such as randomblob(). SQLite is loosely typed, which makes UNION easy (type mismatches rarely block it) but breaks some error tricks from other engines: dividing by zero returns NULL rather than erroring, and casting a non-numeric string yields 0, so error-based injection must use primitives that genuinely raise an error.
Comments are -- and /* */. String concatenation is ||. Stacked queries depend on the API: sqlite3_exec runs multiple ;-separated statements, while a prepared statement runs only the first, so stacking is confirmed, not assumed.
The high-impact primitives are ATTACH DATABASE, which can write a file, and load_extension(), which loads a shared library for code execution but is disabled by default. There are no privilege levels inside SQLite: whatever the application's database handle can do, the injection can do.
Techniques#
- Enumeration: version and schema from
sqlite_master. - Authentication bypass: subvert a login built from the credential fields.
- Union-based: append a
UNION SELECT, aided by loose typing. - Error-based: leak values through primitives that actually raise errors.
- Blind: infer data from boolean response differences.
- Time-based: infer data with
randomblob()heavy expressions. - File manipulation: write files with
ATTACHandVACUUM INTO. - Remote code execution:
load_extension()and the ATTACH web-shell. - Evasion techniques: comments, hex, and encoding past filters.
Tools#
- sqlmap: automated detection and exploitation (
--dbms=SQLite). - ghauri: fast alternative with strong WAF evasion.
- sqlite3: the engine CLI for reproducing
sqlite_master,ATTACH, andload_extensionbehavior.
References#
- SQLite Documentation:
sqlite_master, core functions, ATTACH, load_extension - OWASP Testing Guide: Testing for SQL Injection