CVE-2026-108474 in Exposed
Summary
by MITRE • 10/10/2026
In JetBrains Exposed before 1.5.1 sQL injection was possible via unescaped string arguments of several SQL functions
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/10/2026
The vulnerability identified in JetBrains Exposed prior to version 1.5.1 represents a critical failure in input validation and sanitization mechanisms within the Kotlin-based database access library. This flaw, classified under Common Weakness Enumeration as CWE-89 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command commonly known as SQL Injection, allows attackers to interfere with the queries that an application makes to its database. The root cause lies in how certain SQL functions handled string arguments passed by developers using the library's API. Instead of properly parameterizing these inputs or escaping special characters such as single quotes, semicolons, and comment markers, the framework concatenated them directly into the generated SQL statement strings. This behavior deviates from secure coding practices which dictate that all user-supplied data must be treated as untrusted until explicitly validated and sanitized through safe methods like prepared statements with bound parameters.
From a technical perspective, JetBrains Exposed is designed to provide a type-safe way of interacting with relational databases in Kotlin applications. However, the specific implementation flaw affected several SQL functions where string arguments were not subjected to rigorous escaping protocols before being embedded into dynamic query structures. When an application utilizes these vulnerable functions and passes data derived from external sources without additional manual sanitization, the resulting SQL command becomes susceptible to injection attacks. An attacker can craft malicious input strings containing SQL syntax that alters the logic of the original query. For instance, by injecting a closing quote followed by arbitrary SQL commands, an adversary could bypass authentication checks, extract sensitive data from other tables, modify existing records, or even execute administrative operations on the database server depending on the privileges granted to the application's database account.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and varies based on the context in which JetBrains Exposed is deployed within a larger software ecosystem. If the underlying database connection uses elevated privileges, such as DBA rights, an attacker could potentially compromise the entire database infrastructure by dropping tables, creating new administrative users, or executing system-level commands if the database engine permits it. In less privileged scenarios, the primary risk involves unauthorized data access and modification. This can lead to significant business consequences including regulatory non-compliance with standards like GDPR or HIPAA due to the exposure of personally identifiable information or protected health information. Furthermore, successful exploitation could result in service disruption through destructive queries that corrupt critical application data, leading to downtime and loss of customer trust.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability primarily involve upgrading to JetBrains Exposed version 1.5.1 or later where these specific SQL functions have been patched to properly handle string escaping and parameterization. For organizations unable to immediately upgrade their dependencies, a temporary workaround involves ensuring that all inputs passed to the affected SQL functions are manually validated against strict allowlists of expected characters and formats before being processed by the library. Developers should also audit existing codebases for any direct usage of these vulnerable functions with user-controlled data and refactor them to use parameterized queries wherever possible. Additionally, implementing Web Application Firewalls can provide an additional layer of defense by detecting and blocking common SQL injection patterns in network traffic, although this is not a substitute for fixing the underlying application logic. Continuous integration pipelines should include static analysis tools configured to detect potential SQL injection vulnerabilities during the development phase to prevent similar issues from being introduced into future releases.