CVE-2020-4035
DoS or local data modification via malicious record IDs in WatermelonDB
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- GitHub_M
Description
In WatermelonDB (NPM package "@nozbe/watermelondb") before versions 0.15.1 and 0.16.2, a maliciously crafted record ID can exploit a SQL Injection vulnerability in iOS adapter implementation and cause the app to delete all or selected records from the database, generally causing the app to become unusable. This may happen in apps that don't validate IDs (valid IDs are `/^[a-zA-Z0-9_-.]+$/`) and use Watermelon Sync or low-level `database.adapter.destroyDeletedRecords` method. The integrity risk is low due to the fact that maliciously deleted records won't synchronize, so logout-login will restore all data, although some local changes may be lost if the malicious deletion causes the sync process to fail to proceed to push stage. No way to breach confidentiality with this vulnerability is known. Full exploitation of SQL Injection is mitigated, because it's not possible to nest an insert/update query inside a delete query in SQLite, and it's not possible to pass a semicolon-separated second query. There's also no known practicable way to breach confidentiality by selectively deleting records, because those records will not be synchronized. It's theoretically possible that selective record deletion could cause an app to behave insecurely if lack of a record is used to make security decisions by the app. This is patched in versions 0.15.1, 0.16.2, and 0.16.1-fix
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Medium5.9 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Medium5.9 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.76% · top 44% of all CVEs (6 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 5.9.
Weakness
Affected products
- affected < 0.15.1
- affected >= 0.16.0, < 0.16.2
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
- npm@nozbe/watermelondbGHSA-38f9-m297-6q9g (opens in a new tab)
References (2)
- https://github.com/Nozbe/WatermelonDB/security/advisories/GHSA-38f9-m297-6q9g (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://github.com/Nozbe/WatermelonDB/commit/924c7ae2a8d7d6459656751e5b9b1bf91a218025 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-38f9-m297-6q9g (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2020-4035)Record last updated .