Web vulnerabilities and exploitation

In the previous section, we learned how we can perform web vulnerability scanning; let’s now focus on how we exploit common vulnerabilities and compromise web servers, web applications, databases, user sessions, and so on.

SQL injection

SQL injection is a common and important web application vulnerability that allows an attacker to interact with a backend database through SQL queries. These SQL queries are used to retrieve user data in form of rows and columns.

So, let’s demonstrate how we can compromise a login page via SQL injection:

1. Enter the 1'or'1'='1 query in the Name and Password fields of the login page, as shown in the following screenshot:

Figure 14.14 – SQL injection login query

Now, as shown in Figure 14.14, the SQL login query is entered in the username and password field.

2. The following screenshot shows that the login page is exploited...