Multiple choice technology security

Neil is a budding software developer who has requested you to review his code.He has been asked by the client manager to create an administrative web application designed allow users to kick off a backup of an Oracle database using a batch-file wrapper around the rman utility . The script rmanDB.bat accepts a single command line parameter, which specifies what type of backup to perform. Because access to the database is restricted, the application runs the backup as a privileged user. The commmand to execute the rman script is cmd.exe /K \c:\util\rmanDB.bat < User Specified Back Up type> .Neil has coded the program and which simply accepts the user specified back up variable as a string and directly excutes the command line. What is the most likely vulnerability this code is exposed to?

  1. Command Injection

  2. Buffer Overflow

  3. Persistent XSS

  4. CSRF
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The code directly executes a command with user input: cmd.exe /K \c:\util\rmanDB.bat . When user input is concatenated into a command string without validation or sanitization, attackers can inject additional commands. This is the classic Command Injection vulnerability. The privileged context (running as privileged user) makes this even more dangerous. Options B, C, D are incorrect - this is not buffer overflow, XSS, or CSRF.

AI explanation

To answer this question, you need to understand the concept of command injection.

Option A) Command Injection - This option is correct because the code directly executes the user-specified backup variable as a string without any validation or sanitization. This allows an attacker to inject arbitrary commands into the input and potentially execute unauthorized commands on the system. This vulnerability can be exploited to gain unauthorized access or perform malicious actions on the server.

Option B) Buffer Overflow - Buffer overflow occurs when a program writes data outside the bounds of a buffer, leading to memory corruption and potentially allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code. However, in the given scenario, there is no indication that the code is susceptible to buffer overflow vulnerabilities.

Option C) Persistent XSS - Persistent XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) refers to a security vulnerability where an attacker injects malicious scripts into a website, which are then persistently stored and executed by other users who view the affected content. This vulnerability is not relevant to the given code scenario.

Option D) CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) - CSRF is an attack that tricks the victim into submitting a malicious request. In this scenario, the code does not involve any interaction with web forms or the submission of requests. Therefore, CSRF is not the most likely vulnerability.

The correct answer is A) Command Injection. This vulnerability allows an attacker to inject arbitrary commands into the user-specified backup variable and potentially execute unauthorized commands on the system.

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