Sequelize vulnerable to SQL Injection via replacements
Impact
The SQL injection exploit is related to replacements. Here is such an example:
In the following query, some parameters are passed through replacements, and some are passed directly through the where option.
User.findAll({
where: or(
literal('soundex("firstName") = soundex(:firstName)'),
{ lastName: lastName },
),
replacements: { firstName },
})This is a very legitimate use case, but this query was vulnerable to SQL injection due to how Sequelize processed the query: Sequelize built a first query using the where option, then passed it over to sequelize.query which parsed the resulting SQL to inject all :replacements.
If the user passed values such as
{
"firstName": "OR true; DROP TABLE users;",
"lastName": ":firstName"
}Sequelize would first generate this query:
SELECT * FROM users WHERE soundex("firstName") = soundex(:firstName) OR "lastName" = ':firstName'Then would inject replacements in it, which resulted in this:
SELECT * FROM users WHERE soundex("firstName") = soundex('OR true; DROP TABLE users;') OR "lastName" = ''OR true; DROP TABLE users;''As you can see this resulted in arbitrary user-provided SQL being executed.
Patches
The issue was fixed in Sequelize 6.19.1
Workarounds
Do not use the replacements and the where option in the same query if you are not using Sequelize >= 6.19.1
References
See this thread for more information: https://github.com/sequelize/sequelize/issues/14519
Snyk: https://security.snyk.io/vuln/SNYK-JS-SEQUELIZE-2932027
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| npm package | sequelize | < 6.19.1 | 6.19.1 |
References
- https://github.com/sequelize/sequelize/security/advisories/GHSA-wrh9-cjv3-2hpw
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-25813
- https://github.com/sequelize/sequelize/issues/14519
- https://github.com/sequelize/sequelize/commit/ccaa3996047fe00048d5993ab2dd43ebadd4f78b
- https://github.com/sequelize/sequelize
- https://github.com/sequelize/sequelize/releases/tag/v6.19.1
- https://security.snyk.io/vuln/SNYK-JS-SEQUELIZE-2932027
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-89- Platform
- npm
- Package
sequelize- Disclosed
- 22.02.2023
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 10:22
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-wrh9-cjv3-2hpw - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: sequelize
All published vulnerabilities of this package (npm package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 18
- First → latest
- 10.2017 08.2026
- Without a fix
- 0
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- Critical 8
- High 7
- Medium 3
Disclosures per year
- 2017: 1
- 2018: 0
- 2019: 9
- 2020: 2
- 2021: 0
- 2022: 0
- 2023: 4
- 2024: 0
- 2025: 0
- 2026: 2
-
Sequelize vulnerable to SQL Injection via replacements this entry
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