Automated Attacks

Using SQLMap, you can perform automated attacks on a target application by sending specially crafted requests to the server to obtain information about the database schema and data stored within it. With SQLMap, you can also conduct automated exploitation of SQL injection vulnerabilities using various methods such as out-of-bound reads, time-based blind SQL injection, boolean-based SQL injection, and more.

In this article, we will discuss how to use SQLMap for automated attacks on a target application. We will cover the following topics:

Installation of SQLMap
Scanning a web application for SQL injection vulnerabilities using SQLMap
Automated exploitation of SQL injection vulnerabilities using SQLMap
Using advanced features of SQLMap for more complex attacks

Installation of SQLMap

SQLMap is available as a pre-compiled binary package for various operating systems such as Windows, Linux, and macOS. You can download the latest version of SQLMap from the official website (https://sqlmap.org/). Once you have downloaded the appropriate package for your operating system, extract it to a desired location on your machine.

To use SQLMap, you will need to install some additional packages such as Python 3 and requests. You can do this by running the following command in your terminal or command prompt:

pip install requests

Scanning a web application for SQL injection vulnerabilities using SQLMap

Once you have installed SQLMap, you can use it to scan a target web application for SQL injection vulnerabilities. To do this, open a terminal or command prompt and navigate to the directory where you extracted the SQLMap package.

Next, start SQLMap by running the following command:

python sqlmap.py -u "http://example.com"

Replace "http://example.com" with the URL of the target web application. SQLMap will then prompt you to enter the credentials for the application if required. After entering your credentials, SQLMap will start scanning the application for SQL injection vulnerabilities using various techniques.

Automated exploitation of SQL injection vulnerabilities using SQLMap

Once SQLMap has identified a SQL injection vulnerability in the target web application, you can use it to perform automated exploitation of that vulnerability. To do this, open a terminal or command prompt and navigate to the directory where you extracted the SQLMap package.

Next, start SQLMap by running the following command:

python sqlmap.py -u "http://example.com" --os-shell

Once SQLMap has identified a SQL injection vulnerability in the target web application, it will automatically exploit that vulnerability by injecting malicious code into the database and obtaining a shell on the target server. You can then use this shell to perform additional attacks such as privilege escalation or data exfiltration.

Using advanced features of SQLMap for more complex attacks

SQLMap provides several advanced features that allow you to conduct more complex attacks against vulnerable web applications. For example, you can use the following command-line options with SQLMap to conduct more specific attacks:

python sqlmap.py -u "http://example.com" --os-pwn

This option allows you to exploit a SQL injection vulnerability in a target web application and obtain a remote shell on the target server. You can then use this shell to perform additional attacks such as privilege escalation or data exfiltration.

Another advanced feature of SQLMap is the ability to conduct blind SQL injection attacks. Blind SQL injection attacks are more difficult to detect than traditional SQL injection attacks because they do not return any visible output on the target web page. However, SQLMap provides several options that allow you to perform blind SQL injection attacks against vulnerable web applications.

Conclusion

SQLMap is a powerful tool for automated attacks on web applications with SQL injection vulnerabilities. By using SQLMap, you can quickly scan a target application for SQL injection vulnerabilities and exploit them in a fully automated manner. With SQLMap, you can also conduct more complex attacks such as privilege escalation or data exfiltration.