Identification Failures in Adonisjs with Cockroachdb

An identification failure occurs when an API cannot reliably distinguish one user from another, allowing one user to access or modify another user’s resources. In Adonisjs applications using Cockroachdb, this commonly arises from incorrect query construction, misuse of ORM scoping, or missing validation of identifier sources (e.g., route parameters or JWT subject claims). Cockroachdb is compatible with PostgreSQL wire protocol; therefore, Adonisjs typically interacts with it via pg or an ORM layer like Lucid. When identifiers are handled without strict type checks, concatenation, or safe binding, an attacker can manipulate numeric or UUID strings to traverse ownership boundaries.

With Cockroachdb, certain behaviors differ subtly from single-node Postgres. For example, Cockroachdb enforces strict ANSI SQL behavior for unique constraints and may return different error shapes when uniqueness violations or row-level locking conditions occur. If Adonisjs code performs an upsert or a find-by-primary-key operation using string-based IDs without verifying the namespace or tenant context, an attacker can supply another user’s ID (e.g., user_id=2) and gain access to data that belongs to a different tenant or permission set. This is especially risky when combined with mass assignment or overly permissive query scopes that do not enforce row-level ownership at the database query level.

Common patterns that lead to identification failures in this stack include:

• Using route parameters directly in Lucid queries without validating that the authenticated subject matches the provided identifier.
• Relying on client-supplied foreign keys in payloads (e.g., profile_id) to associate records, rather than deriving associations from the authenticated context.
• Improper handling of UUID primary keys where casing or string formatting differences bypass uniqueness checks or allow ID confusion across namespaces.

Because middleBrick tests unauthenticated attack surfaces and scans for BOLA/IDOR, it can surface these risks when endpoints expose user-specific data without proper ownership checks. The scanner highlights findings mapped to OWASP API Top 10 (e.g., Broken Object Level Authorization) and provides remediation guidance tailored to Adonisjs and Cockroachdb patterns.

Remediation focuses on ensuring every data access path enforces ownership and validates identifiers against the authenticated context. Use parameterized queries and ORM scoping so that the database participates in enforcement rather than relying on application-level filtering alone.

1. Parameterized queries with strict ID binding

Always bind identifiers as parameters instead of string concatenation. This avoids SQL injection and ensures type-safe handling. With Lucid and Cockroachdb, use merge to scope queries to the authenticated user’s tenant or ID.

import User from 'App/Models/User'

export default class UsersController {
  async show({ params, auth }) {
    const user = await User.query()
      .where('id', auth.user!.id)
      .andWhere('id', params.id)
      .first()

    if (!user) {
      throw new Error('Unauthorized or not found')
    }
    return user
  }
}

2. Enforce tenant scoping with database constraints

For multi-tenant setups, include tenant_id in both the schema and query scope. Cockroachdb’s strict uniqueness can be leveraged by creating composite unique constraints and filtering by tenant_id in every read/write.

import Profile from 'App/Models/Profile'

export default class ProfilesController {
  async updateProfile({ params, request, auth }) {
    const data = request.only(['bio', 'avatar_url'])
    const profile = await Profile.query()
      .where('tenant_id', auth.user!.tenantId)
      .andWhere('id', params.profileId)
      .firstOrFail()

    profile.merge(data)
    await profile.save()
    return profile
  }
}

3. Validate and normalize UUIDs

Cockroachdb stores UUIDs as UUID type; ensure client input is normalized to lowercase RFC 4122 format before comparison to avoid bypass via casing differences.

import { uuid } from '@adonisjs/core/helpers')

export const normalizeUuid = (value: string): string => {
  try {
    return uuid(value).toString()
  } catch {
    throw new Error('Invalid UUID format')
  }
}

// Usage in controller
const normalizedId = normalizeUuid(params.id)
const record = await Model.query().where('id', normalizedId).firstOrFail()

4. Avoid client-supplied foreign keys for associations

Instead of trusting a profile_id from the request body, derive the association from the authenticated user or tenant.

import Profile from 'App/Models/Profile'

export default class ProfilesController {
  async store({ request, auth }) {
    const data = request.only(['bio'])
    const profile = await Profile.create({
      ...data,
      userId: auth.user!.id,
      tenantId: auth.user!.tenantId,
    })
    return profile
  }
}

5. Use database-level constraints and prepared statements

Define NOT NULL and foreign key constraints in Cockroachdb DDL so that orphaned or mismatched references are rejected at the database level. In Adonisjs migrations, explicitly declare references with unsigned and onDelete rules to maintain referential integrity.

export default class ProfileSchema {
  public async up() {
    this.schema.createTable('profiles', (table) => {
      table.increments('id').primary()
      table.uuid('user_id').notNullable()
      table.foreign('user_id').references('users.id').onDelete('CASCADE')
      table.string('bio')
      table.timestamps()
    })
  }
}