If the id parameter is unsanitized, attackers can inject SQL:
http://target.com/article.php?id=1 UNION SELECT username,password FROM users --
inurl: operatorThis Google search operator tells the search engine to only return results where the following text appears inside the URL string. It ignores the body of the webpage or the title.
If you are a developer and your site appears in these results, you should ensure you are following security best practices:
ID provided in the URL. Before performing an update operation, verify that the currently logged-in user actually owns the record associated with that ID.POST requests, not GET requests (which put the parameters in the URL). This prevents parameters from being logged in browser history or server access logs.idRequest:
GET /profile.php?id=1' OR '1'='1
Result: Dumps all profiles.
To truly understand the fix, let's write the bad code that this dork so efficiently finds.
vulnerable_upd.php
<?php $connection = mysqli_connect("localhost", "user", "pass", "database");// The crime happens here: direct concatenation of user input $user_id = $_GET['id1'];
// Execute the dangerous query $result = mysqli_query($connection, "UPDATE user_preferences SET theme = 'dark' WHERE user_id = $user_id"); inurl php id1 upd
if($result) echo "Preferences updated!"; else echo "Update failed."; ?>
The Problem: If I visit vulnerable_upd.php?id1=1; DROP TABLE users;--, the database receives:
UPDATE user_preferences SET theme = 'dark' WHERE user_id = 1; DROP TABLE users;--
The semicolon ends the first statement. The DROP TABLE users; executes next. The -- comments out the rest. Your database is gone. Unmasking the Vulnerability: A Deep Dive into "inurl
If a PHP script uses code like:
$id = $_GET['id'];
$result = mysqli_query($conn, "SELECT * FROM articles WHERE id = $id");
Then an attacker can:
UPDATE queries are also present).The presence of upd might indicate a page that also accepts update parameters, increasing the risk.
If access control is missing, changing id may reveal other users’ data: Access Control: Never trust the ID provided in the URL
/article.php?id=2 → another user’s private article