Picture this: You’re running a successful eCommerce business and suddenly notice a drop in sales. Further investigation reveals that your customer’s personal and financial information has been compromised. Your business is now facing a public relations nightmare and potential legal action. Unfortunately, this scenario is common due to SQL injection attacks, the number one web application security risk featured in OWASP’s Top Ten.
SQL injection targets databases by injecting malicious code into SQL statements, allowing attackers to access, modify, or delete sensitive data. In this article, we explain SQL injection and how businesses of all sizes can protect themselves with the help of SQL injection scanners.
What are SQL Injection vulnerabilities?
Consider an eCommerce website that allows users to find products by entering the product name into a search field. The code for this particular feature may look like the below:
In the above example scenario, the website uses the input (product name) to generate a SQL query which will be executed on the database. An attacker could take advantage of this by entering malicious SQL code into the product name field, such as:
This vulnerability would cause the query to become:
The query will return all products available in the database as the condition ‘1=1’ will always be true, which is not the intended behavior.
Similarly, the user can transfer funds on a financial service website by entering the account number and amount. An attacker can enter malicious SQL code in the account number field, such as:
This would cause the query to become:
This query will show all the accounts and delete the entire account table from the database, leading to unauthorized access to sensitive information and financial loss.
Simulate a SQL injection via https://www.hacksplaining.com/exercises/sql-injection
Several high-profile SQL injection-related attacks have made headlines recently, proving that this threat isn’t going away anytime soon. In 2023, MOVEit Transfer—a popular file transfer tool—was hit by a zero-day SQL injection vulnerability (CVE-2023-34362) that affected more than 600 organizations around the world. The CL0P ransomware gang exploited the flaw to steal data from banks, airlines, and even government agencies. Around the same time, DC Health Link suffered a breach that exposed personal information belonging to tens of thousands of people, including members of Congress. And in another case, Toyota’s supplier portal was found to be leaking sensitive internal data due to a poorly secured API—an issue that raised red flags about potential injection risks. These examples show that even the biggest names in tech and government aren’t immune, and that SQL injection remains a real danger for anyone building or running web applications today.
These examples demonstrate the severe consequences that can result from SQL injection attacks and that they’re here to stay. Let’s look at the steps you should take to avoid becoming the next victim.
How to avoid SQL Injection?
SQL injection scanners are among the best ways to avoid SQL injection attacks by identifying vulnerabilities in a website’s code and suggesting how to fix them. You can also use parameterized queries to prevent SQL injection attacks. This method separates the code and data, making it harder for attackers to inject malicious code.
Key Features to look for in a SQL Injection Scanner
When looking for a SQL injection scanner, ensure that the tool:
- accurately identifies vulnerabilities in the website’s code
- provides suggestions on how to fix identified vulnerabilities
- is easy to use and understand, so that users will adopt them quickly and use them regularly
Top 7 Best SQL Injection Scanners
Let’s look at some best SQL Injection Scanners covering commercial products and free and open-source solutions.
Top-Rated Tools:
1. HCL AppScan
HCL AppScan is a comprehensive web application security scanner offering a range of features for developers to detect and remediate vulnerabilities in their applications, including SQL Injections. It supports various web application technologies and frameworks, integration with other security tools and platforms, and advanced reporting features.
Advantages:
- Comprehensive coverage of web application vulnerabilities
- Automated scanning and manual testing capabilities
- Integrated remediation workflows and reporting
Best for:
- Large organizations with complex web applications
- Organizations that have compliance requirements for web application security
Pricing:
Free trial and quotation based
2. Invicti (formerly Netsparker)
Invicti is a web application security scanning tool that automatically detects and reports vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, XSS, and insecure file uploads. It natively integrates with issue-tracking and ticketing software and offers control permissions for unlimited users, allowing for different access levels and responsibilities.
Advantages:
- Scans static and dynamic websites
- Supports various technologies, including HTML, JavaScript, and web frameworks
- Built-in vulnerability management system
- Easy-to-use UI for developers and security professionals
Best for:
- Large-scale companies
- Conducting periodic security audits
- Companies that develop web applications with common CI/CD platforms such as Jenkins and TravisCI
Pricing:
Quotation Based
3. Jit
Jit automatically identifies and reports vulnerabilities in web applications, mobile apps, and APIs with a combination of static and dynamic analysis. It identifies a wide range of vulnerabilities, including SQL injection, and once vulnerabilities are identified, Jit provides detailed remediation guidance to help organizations fix the issues.
Advantages of using Jit:
- Developer-friendly UI with a focus on streamlining security testing experiences across platforms
- Integrates with other security tools and platforms, including OWASP ZAP and OWASP dependency check
- Continuous Security Monitoring (CSM) continuously monitors web applications for vulnerabilities and provides alerts as soon as any new ones are discovered
Best for:
- Organizations of all sizes looking to introduce security testing measures to their web applications
Pricing:
Free trial and quotation based
4. SpectralOps
The Spectral platform uses ML and AI to automatically identify and report security vulnerabilities in web applications, mobile apps, and network applications. It can identify many known and unknown vulnerabilities, including SQL injection, providing detailed remediation guidance to help organizations fix the issues.
Advantages:
- Straightforward to setup and use basic functionalities without slowing down the CI/CD
- Made by developers for developers to detect vulnerabilities in code
- Automated remediation allows developers to fix vulnerabilities quickly
- Continuous monitoring capability ensures that vulnerabilities are not reintroduced once they have been fixed
- Easy integration flow with third-party tools and platforms
Best for:
Companies with smaller-scale projects not dealing with highly sensitive data but with general purpose applications requiring a moderate level of security checks.
Pricing:
Quotation based
Free, open-source tools:
5. SQLMap
SQLMap is a widely-used open-source tool for identifying and exploiting SQL injection vulnerabilities. It boasts over 26k stars on its GitHub repository. It supports various database management systems, including MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and Microsoft SQL Server, as well as various platforms, including Windows, Linux, and MacOS.
Advantages:
- Automatically identifies and exploits SQL injection vulnerabilities and supports a range of injection techniques such as boolean-based blind, time-based blind, error-based, UNION query-based, and stacked queries
- Good community support
Best for:
Limited budget and strong community support
6. w3af
w3af is a web application security scanner helping users identify and exploit vulnerabilities in web applications. Written in Python, it’s available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. With w3af, you can automate the process of vulnerability scanning and exploitation, and it supports a wide range of vulnerabilities, including SQL injection, XSS, and file inclusion.
Advantages:
- Comprehensive coverage of web application vulnerabilities
- Flexible and customizable, allowing users to create custom plugins and scripts
- Has an integrated web UI for easy navigation and management of scan results
Best for:
Low-budget and less experienced users who would benefit from an easy-to-use GUI
7. Blind SQL Injection Perl Tool
Blind SQL Injection Brute Forcer version 2 is a powerful tool for identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities in web applications. This modified version of bsqlbfv1.2-th.pl allows data extraction from blind SQL injections and supports many databases, including MS SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle.
Advantages:
- Works for integer and string-based injections
- Supports multiple databases, including MS-SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle
- Supports Meterpreter payload execution for certain attack modes, allowing a developer to perform various actions on a compromised system
- Has timer options that allow the user to specify how long to wait before sending the next request
- Eight different attack modes available
- Enables the creation of custom SQL queries
Best for:
Companies looking for a customizable SQL Injection Scanner with no cost
Protecting Your Stack Starts Here
SQL injection is still causing trouble for web apps everywhere — but they’re also preventable. Whether you opt for a robust commercial scanner or a powerful open-source tool, proactively testing your applications is essential.
By choosing the right scanner for your needs and integrating it into your workflow, you can catch vulnerabilities before attackers do — and keep your data, users, and reputation safe.
