Email Injections

👉 Overview

👀 What ?

Email Injection is a security vulnerability that can occur in Internet applications that are used to send email messages. It is a technique where an attacker injects malicious data into email content, thereby altering the email message and potentially gaining unauthorized access to sensitive information.

🧐 Why ?

Email Injections are an important issue because they can lead to various forms of security breaches, such as identity theft, unauthorized access to sensitive information, and potentially, control over the affected system. This is why it’s important for our readers to understand what Email Injections are, how they work, and how they can be prevented.

⛏️ How ?

To prevent Email Injections, it’s important to validate and sanitize all email inputs. This includes the email headers and body. It involves checking and cleaning the data that will be part of the email message. Additionally, using secure coding practices, like prepared statements or parameterized queries, can also help prevent Email Injections.

⏳ When ?

Email Injections have been a threat ever since the inception of email communication. With the increase in use of web applications for email communication, the risk of Email Injections has also increased.

⚙️ Technical Explanations

Email Injection exploits the email protocols (like SMTP) by inserting additional headers into the email message. These headers can modify the email content, recipients, or even instruct the email server to execute certain commands. For instance, an attacker can inject a 'bcc' header to send a copy of every email to their own address. Or, they can inject a 'Content-Type' header to modify the email content type and embed malicious scripts within the email.