Chapter 7: Cross-site
scripting
Key concept
• What is Cross-site scripting vulnerabilities
• Common Vulnerabilities Related to Cross-site scripting
• Impact of Cross-site scripting
• Prevention Strategies
1. What is Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)?
• Cross-Site Scripting, commonly known as XSS, is a web security
vulnerability that allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into web
pages viewed by other users.
• It occurs when a web application uses unvalidated or unencoded
user input within the output it generates. For example, an attacker
might input a script in a comment field on a website, which is then
executed by other users who view that comment.
2. Common Vulnerabilities Related to XSS
• Reflected XSS: This type occurs when user input from a web
request is immediately included in a web page without proper
validation or escaping. For instance, a search form that directly
displays the search query on the result page can be exploited by
including a script in the query.
• Stored XSS: Here, the malicious script is permanently stored on the
target server, such as in a database, and is displayed to users in a
web page. For example, a forum post with a script is stored on the
server and shown to every user who views that post.
2. Common Vulnerabilities Related to XSS
• DOM-based XSS: This type involves client-side scripts that write
data to the Document Object Model (DOM) without proper
sanitization. It's exploited by manipulating the DOM environment in
the victim's browser to execute the attacker's code.
3. Impact of Cross-Site Scripting
Data Theft and Session Hijacking: XSS can be used to steal
cookies, session tokens, or other sensitive information from users'
browsers, leading to session hijacking and identity theft.
Website Defacement: Attackers can use XSS to alter the appearance
of a web page, damaging the site's reputation and user trust.
Phishing and Malware Distribution: XSS can be employed to create
phishing pages or distribute malware, tricking users into revealing
sensitive information or downloading harmful software.
Browser Exploitation: Malicious scripts injected through XSS can
exploit vulnerabilities in web browsers or plugins, potentially
compromising the user's system.
4. Prevention Strategies: Input Validation
• Implementing rigorous input validation to ensure only safe
characters are accepted. This includes rejecting potentially harmful
scripts or HTML tags in user inputs.
• Employing regular expressions to detect and block common
scripting patterns, and using allowlists to define acceptable input.
4. Prevention Strategies: Output Encoding
• Encoding user-generated output before rendering it on web pages.
This means converting special characters (like `<`, `>`, `&`, `’`, `“`
etc.) to their respective HTML or URL encoded equivalents.
• For example, converting `<` to `<` and `>` to `>` ensures that
any scripts included in user inputs are displayed as plain text rather
than being executed.
4. Prevention Strategies: Use of Content Security Policy (CSP)
• CSP is a browser feature that helps prevent XSS by controlling the
resources the browser is allowed to load. It can be used to restrict
the execution of inline JavaScript and external scripts.
• Setting up a CSP involves defining a policy in the web server’s
headers that dictates which scripts are allowed to run, and from
where they can be loaded, thus limiting the potential for malicious
script execution.
4. Prevention Strategies: Secure Frameworks and Libraries
• Utilizing modern web frameworks and libraries that automatically
escape XSS by design. For example, React and Angular have built-
in XSS prevention mechanisms.
• These frameworks reduce the risk of XSS by handling data
encoding and sanitization internally, thereby lessening the burden
on developers to manually implement these protections.
4. Prevention Strategies: Regular Security Auditing
• Conducting regular security audits and code reviews to identify
potential XSS vulnerabilities.
• Employing automated scanning tools to detect common XSS
patterns and manual testing to simulate more sophisticated attacks.
4. Prevention Strategies: Security Training for Developers
• Providing ongoing security training to developers to keep them
informed about the latest XSS techniques and prevention
strategies.
• Emphasizing the importance of secure coding practices and the
awareness of common attack vectors, such as XSS, in the software
development life cycle.
Summary
Definition of XSS:
• Cross-Site Scripting, or XSS, is a web security vulnerability that
allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed
by other users.
Types of XSS:
• Reflected XSS, Stored XSS, DOM-based XSS,
Impact of XSS:
• XSS can lead to data theft, session hijacking, website defacement,
phishing and malware distribution, and browser exploitation.
Prevention Strategies:
• Input Validation, Output Encoding, Content Security Policy (CSP)…
