Sql+injection+challenge+5+security+shepherd+new

You need to change user_id = 2 to user_id = 1. But you cannot use quotes or spaces in creative ways? Wait — spaces are allowed.

Try searching for:
%' UNION SELECT note FROM notes WHERE user_id=1 --

But quotes are blocked. How to inject without quotes? Use hex encoding or CHAR() function — but the filter blocks parentheses? No, parentheses are allowed. Let’s check: ( and ) are not in the regex [^a-zA-Z0-9 ]. So you can use functions.

But the injection point is inside the LIKE '%[injection]%' string. You need to close the LIKE clause and add a new condition.

Search term:
%' OR user_id=1 --

Still blocked because of the single quote. Try escaping the single quote? You can’t type \' because \ is allowed but the quote is blocked at validation. sql+injection+challenge+5+security+shepherd+new

Logging in as guest/guest, you see a note:

"Guest note: Remember to buy milk."

You click on Admin Search. The URL is:
https://shepherd:8443/challenge5/search.jsp

A simple form asks for a search_term. You try searching for milk. The results show:

Found 1 note: Guest note: Remember to buy milk. You need to change user_id = 2 to user_id = 1

The response header contains a hint:
X-Debug-Query: SELECT note FROM notes WHERE user_id = 2 AND note LIKE '%milk%'

Key observation: The search query is not using prepared statements here — the developer hand-wrote a LIKE clause directly inside the query string. The user_id=2 corresponds to the guest user. The admin’s user_id is almost certainly 1.

Navigate to Challenge 5. The interface typically presents a search box—often a "Find User" or "Lookup Product ID" field. Let’s simulate the environment:

Before we dive into the injection itself, let’s establish context. OWASP Security Shepherd is a web and mobile application security training platform. Unlike vulnerable VMs that require installation, Shepherd is a deliberately flawed application designed to teach secure coding. It features escalating difficulty levels (Modules 1-10), with SQL Injection Challenge 5 acting as the bridge between novice "copy-paste" hackers and true manual exploit developers.

Based on community threads for "sql injection challenge 5 security shepherd new", the three most common failure points are: Logging in as guest/guest , you see a note:

Once you successfully extract the data, the flag for Security Shepherd Challenge 5 usually follows the format: OSWE-<Random_Hash> or shepherd_<alphanumeric>.

Example found in walkthroughs: OSWE-5d41402abc4b2a76b9719d911017c592

If you want, I can:

Related search suggestions (for further queries): security shepherd sql injection challenge 5, blind sql injection techniques, sql injection bypass filters

Before attacking, the attacker must control a DNS server or use a service like:

For this write-up, assume Burp Collaborator generates a unique subdomain: [random].burpcollaborator.net