CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2020-4035 — Nozbe Watermelondb security vulnerability

Medium CVSS 5.9

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 re…

Severity
Medium
CVSS
5.9 (3.1)
Published
2020-06-03
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
javascript/npm
Weaknesses
CWE-89

Affected products

  • nozbe / watermelondb
  • nozbe / watermelondb / 0.16.0
  • nozbe / watermelondb / 0.16.1

Matched remediation archetype

SQL and data-query injection

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Trace request, message, file, and stored values into SQL, ORM query fragments, filters, sort expressions, and other data-query languages.
  • Inventory database roles, reachable schemas, multi-tenant boundaries, and whether stacked or administrative operations are enabled.
  • Check both direct queries and second-order use of previously stored values.

Remediate safely

  • Use parameterized queries or safe query builders for all values; map identifiers and operators through explicit allowlists.
  • Remove raw query concatenation and give the application account only the tables and operations it requires.
  • Update affected data-access components and add regression tests for query structure preservation with inert edge-case inputs.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

The detailed catalog view below loads this exact record, its source evidence, and the full seven-phase agentic change plan.