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CQL Injection in Cassandra Backend via fmt.Sprintf String Interpolation

High
lakhansamani published GHSA-jfwg-rxf3-p7r9 Apr 3, 2026

Package

gomod github.com/authorizerdev/authorizer (Go)

Affected versions

<= 2.0.0

Patched versions

2.0.1

Description

Vulnerability Details

CWE: CWE-943 - Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Data Query Logic

All 66+ CQL queries in internal/storage/db/cassandradb/ use fmt.Sprintf to interpolate user-controlled values directly into CQL query strings without parameterization.

Unauthenticated endpoints (signup, login, forgot_password, magic_link_login) pass user input directly into CQL query strings.

Note: This advisory covers the Cassandra CQL injection only. The Couchbase N1QL injection is tracked in a separate advisory per CVE rule 4.2.11.

Affected Code Pattern

// Before (VULNERABLE) - e.g. cassandradb/user.go
query := fmt.Sprintf("SELECT ... FROM %s WHERE email = '%s'", table, email)
err := p.db.Query(query).Scan(...)

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Deploy Authorizer <= 2.0.0 with Cassandra backend
  2. Send a signup request with a CQL injection payload in the email field:
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/graphql \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"query":"mutation { signup(params: { email: \"test'\" }) { message } }"}'
  1. The single quote breaks out of the CQL string literal, causing a CQL parse error that leaks internal schema information
  2. Crafted payloads can manipulate query logic to bypass authentication or extract data

Affected Files (10 Cassandra files)

Package File Queries Fixed
cassandradb user.go 7
cassandradb otp.go 4
cassandradb session_token.go 19
cassandradb verification_requests.go 4
cassandradb authenticator.go 3
cassandradb email_template.go 5
cassandradb webhook.go 5
cassandradb webhook_log.go 2
cassandradb session.go 1
cassandradb env.go 2

Impact

An unauthenticated attacker can inject arbitrary CQL operators through the email, phone, or token parameters on public-facing endpoints (signup, login, forgot_password, magic_link_login). This enables authentication bypass and data exfiltration from the Cassandra keyspace.

Proposed Fix

Use parameterized queries:

// After (FIXED)
query := fmt.Sprintf("SELECT ... FROM %s WHERE email = ?", table)
err := p.db.Query(query, email).Scan(...)

Fixed in #500 (merged 2026-03-27).

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

CVE ID

No known CVE

Weaknesses

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Data Query Logic

The product generates a query intended to access or manipulate data in a data store such as a database, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that can modify the intended logic of the query. Learn more on MITRE.

Credits