Grafana Tool Vulnerability Enables SQL Injection by Attackers

A severe SQL injection vulnerability has been discovered in Grafana, a popular open-source platform extensively used for monitoring and observability. This flaw enables attackers with valid user credentials to execute arbitrary SQL commands, posing risks such as data leakage and security breaches.

Grafana Tool Vulnerability

The vulnerability is located within the Grafana SQL package, specifically in the SqlDatasource.ts file, where SQL queries are managed and executed.

This can be exploited by attackers who send a malicious POST request to the /api/ds/query endpoint, utilizing a carefully constructed raw SQL parameter.

This flaw affects all Grafana versions, including the latest releases. It poses a high risk, as attackers could access or manipulate sensitive data in connected databases. Its widespread impact affects all past and current Grafana versions, posing a significant threat to organizations relying on this tool for data analytics and monitoring.

More about the Vulnerability

The core issue stems from inadequate validation of SQL queries transmitted through the Grafana backend.

The vulnerability permits SQL injection via unchecked code blocks, demonstrated in SqlDatasource.ts and datasource.ts files, where SQL query executions occur, including time-based blind SQL injection.

Repeated vulnerabilities in Grafana raise concerns about the security practices of its development team, despite the team’s controversial view of this flaw as a backend system feature, rather than a vulnerability.

To mitigate this issue, data sources connected to Grafana should implement strong filtering and validation mechanisms as Grafana itself does not validate queries sent to the DataSource proxy. This discovery emphasizes the vital importance of ongoing security assessment and enhancement, particularly for open-source software utilized in sensitive environments.

Organizations employing Grafana should enhance security measures and remain vigilant for any anomalies in their systems. The ongoing debate over distinguishing a feature from a vulnerability will likely prompt close scrutiny from the security community regarding Grafana’s approach to addressing this and subsequent security concerns.