CVE-2025-12409 in Looker Studio
Summary
by MITRE • 11/10/2025
A SQL injection vulnerability was discovered in Looker Studio that allowed for data exfiltration from BigQuery data sources. By creating a malicious report with native functions enabled, and having the victim access the report, an attacker could execute injected SQL queries with the victim's permissions in BigQuery.
This vulnerability was patched on 07 July 2025, and no customer action is needed.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/10/2025
This vulnerability represents a critical SQL injection flaw in Looker Studio that exploited the platform's native function capabilities to enable unauthorized data exfiltration from BigQuery data sources. The vulnerability emerged from insufficient input validation and sanitization within the report generation engine, allowing attackers to inject malicious SQL commands through crafted reports. The flaw specifically targeted the interaction between Looker Studio's reporting interface and BigQuery's query execution engine, creating a pathway for privilege escalation and data theft. Attackers could leverage this vulnerability by constructing malicious reports that utilized native functions to execute arbitrary SQL queries against BigQuery databases, effectively bypassing normal access controls and permissions.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability aligns with common SQL injection attack patterns documented in the CWE database under CWE-89, which categorizes improper neutralization of special elements used in SQL commands. The attack vector specifically demonstrates elements of CWE-77 and CWE-78, involving the execution of unauthorized commands through user-controllable inputs. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple data theft to include potential privilege escalation, as the injected queries would execute with the permissions of the victim accessing the malicious report. This particular implementation leveraged the native function execution capabilities of Looker Studio, which is a common target for such attacks due to the platform's direct integration with cloud-based data warehouses like BigQuery. The attack requires minimal user interaction beyond the victim accessing the malicious report, making it particularly dangerous in environments where users frequently share and collaborate on reports.
The operational impact of this vulnerability was significant for organizations relying on Looker Studio for data visualization and analysis, particularly those with sensitive data stored in BigQuery. The vulnerability enabled unauthorized access to data that should have been protected by normal access controls, potentially exposing confidential business information, customer data, or proprietary analytics. Organizations with extensive Looker Studio deployments faced potential compliance violations and data breach risks, as the vulnerability could be exploited to access data from multiple BigQuery datasets. The attack's reliance on native functions and report sharing mechanisms meant that even routine collaboration activities could become attack vectors, creating a broad surface area for exploitation. Security teams had to consider the implications for data governance policies and access control implementations, as this vulnerability demonstrated how seemingly benign features could be weaponized for data exfiltration.
The vulnerability was addressed through a targeted patch released on 07 July 2025, which implemented proper input validation and sanitization for native function parameters within Looker Studio's report generation pipeline. This patch specifically focused on preventing the injection of malicious SQL commands through user-controlled inputs and enhanced the validation of native function parameters before query execution. The fix aligns with recommended security practices for preventing SQL injection attacks and follows industry standards for secure coding practices. Organizations were advised that no customer action was required as the patch was automatically applied, indicating that Google's security team had implemented a comprehensive fix without requiring manual intervention from users. The resolution demonstrates the importance of regular security updates and the need for cloud service providers to maintain robust vulnerability management processes, particularly for platforms that interface with sensitive data stores like BigQuery. This vulnerability highlights the critical need for continuous security monitoring and the importance of securing data visualization platforms that have direct access to enterprise databases and analytics systems.