Lua SQL Injection Guide: Examples and Prevention

Lua is a versatile, fast, and lightweight scripting language that is increasingly used in embedded systems development, but its growing popularity makes it vulnerable to cyberattacks such as SQL injection. SQL injections exploit unsanitized user inputs to inject malicious SQL commands, potentially compromising databases by granting unauthorized access or allowing data manipulation. To prevent SQL injection attacks in Lua, developers are encouraged to use prepared statements and allowlisting techniques, which help validate and sanitize user inputs. Prepared statements involve a two-phase query execution that separates data from commands, while allowlisting ensures only permitted inputs are processed, particularly for dynamic queries that could otherwise be misused. Despite these defenses, security must remain a comprehensive aspect of software development, independent of the programming language used, to safeguard against potential threats. The article emphasizes the importance of secure coding practices in Lua, especially given its prevalent use in handling sensitive information within embedded systems.