CVE-2013-4422
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedSQL injection vulnerability in Quassel IRC before 0.9.1, when Qt 4.8.5 or later and PostgreSQL 8.2 or later are used, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands via a \ (backslash) in a message.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceSQL injection vulnerability in Quassel IRC versions before 0.9.1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands via a backslash character in messages. The vulnerability is specific to environments using Qt 4.8.5 or later combined with PostgreSQL 8.2 or later, where improper input sanitization of message content allows SQL command injection.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data<= 0.9.0= 0.1.0= 0.3.0= 0.3.0.1= 0.3.0.2= 0.3.0.3= 0.3.1= 0.4.0= 0.4.1= 0.4.2= 0.4.3= 0.5.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Quassel IRC installation and versionRun 'quasselcore --version' or check package manager (dpkg -l quassel, rpm -qi quassel-core) to find the installed Quassel IRC versionAffected if Version is 0.9.0 or lower, specifically if it matches 0.1.0, 0.3.0, 0.3.0.1-0.3.0.3, 0.3.1, 0.4.0-0.4.3, or 0.5.0
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Confirm Quassel is using PostgreSQL backendCheck Quassel configuration file (typically ~/.config/quassel/quassel-core.conf or /etc/quassel/quassel-core.conf) for 'DatabaseType=PostgreSQL' or query the database connection settingsAffected if Database backend is PostgreSQL (the vulnerability only affects PostgreSQL environments)
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Check Qt framework versionRun 'qmake --version' or check installed Qt4 packages (dpkg -l | grep qt4 or rpm -qa | grep qt)Affected if Qt version is 4.8.5 or later (this condition must be true for the vulnerability to be exploitable)
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Check PostgreSQL server versionRun 'psql --version' or query the database: 'SELECT version();' connected to the Quassel databaseAffected if PostgreSQL version is 8.2 or later (this condition must be true for the vulnerability to be exploitable)
You are affected if you are running Quassel IRC version 0.9.0 or lower with PostgreSQL as the backend, AND your environment has Qt 4.8.5 or later combined with PostgreSQL 8.2 or later.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade to Quassel IRC version 0.9.1 or later, which contains the patched code. As a workaround until upgrade is possible, consider restricting network access to the Quassel core and implementing additional input validation at the network boundary.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-4422 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-4422 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data