10/18/2020 What is DOM-based XSS (cross-site scripting)?

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DOM-based XSS
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In this section, we'll describe DOM-based cross-site scripting (DOM XSS), explain how to find DOM XSS
vulnerabilities, and talk about how to exploit DOM XSS with different sources and sinks. 0%

What is DOM-based cross-site scripting?

Vulnerability labs: View al
DOM-based XSS vulnerabilities usually arise when JavaScript takes data from an attacker-controllable source, such
as the URL, and passes it to a sink that supports dynamic code execution, such as eval() or innerHTML. This 4%
enables attackers to execute malicious JavaScript, which typically allows them to hijack other users' accounts.
To deliver a DOM-based XSS attack, you need to place data into a source so that it is propagated to a sink and
causes execution of arbitrary JavaScript. Level progress:

The most common source for DOM XSS is the URL, which is typically accessed with the window.location object.
An attacker can construct a link to send a victim to a vulnerable page with a payload in the query string and fragment
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portions of the URL. In certain circumstances, such as when targeting a 404 page or a website running PHP, the
payload can also be placed in the path. Apprentice Practitioner Expert
For a detailed explanation of the taint flow between sources and sinks, please refer to the DOM-based vulnerabilities
page.
Your level:

How to test for DOM-based cross-site scripting NEWBIE

Ne Solve 42 more labs to
The majority of DOM XSS vulnerabilities can be found quickly and reliably using Burp Suite's web vulnerability become an apprentice.
scanner. To test for DOM-based cross-site scripting manually, you generally need to use a browser with developer
tools, such as Chrome. You need to work through each available source in turn, and test each one individually. See where you rank
on our Hall of
Testing HTML sinks Fame 
To test for DOM XSS in an HTML sink, place a random alphanumeric string into the source (such as
location.search), then use developer tools to inspect the HTML and find where your string appears. Note that the
browser's "View source" option won't work for DOM XSS testing because it doesn't take account of changes that have
been performed in the HTML by JavaScript. In Chrome's developer tools, you can use Control+F (or Command+F on DOM-based XSS
MacOS) to search the DOM for your string. Mark as complete
For each location where your string appears within the DOM, you need to identify the context. Based on this context,
you need to refine your input to see how it is processed. For example, if your string appears within a double-quoted
attribute then try to inject double quotes in your string to see if you can break out of the attribute.
In this topic
Note that browsers behave differently with regards to URL-encoding, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari will URL-encode
Cross-site scripting 
location.search and location.hash, while IE11 and Microsoft Edge (pre-Chromium) will not URL-encode these
Reflected XSS 
sources. If your data gets URL-encoded before being processed, then an XSS attack is unlikely to work.
Stored XSS 
Testing JavaScript execution sinks DOM-based XSS 
XSS contexts 
Testing JavaScript execution sinks for DOM-based XSS is a little harder. With these sinks, your input doesn't
AngularJS sandbox 
necessarily appear anywhere within the DOM, so you can't search for it. Instead you'll need to use the JavaScript
Exploiting XSS vulnerabilities 
debugger to determine whether and how your input is sent to a sink.
Content security policy 
For each potential source, such as location, you first need to find cases within the page's JavaScript code where Dangling markup 
the source is being referenced. In Chrome's developer tools, you can use Control+Shift+F (or Command+Alt+F Preventing XSS 
on MacOS) to search all the page's JavaScript code for the source. XSS cheat sheet 
Once you've found where the source is being read, you can use the JavaScript debugger to add a break point and
follow how the source's value is used. You might find that the source gets assigned to other variables. If this is the
case, you'll need to use the search function again to track these variables and see if they're passed to a sink. When
All topics
you find a sink that is being assigned data that originated from the source, you can use the debugger to inspect the
SQL injection 
value by hovering over the variable to show its value before it is sent to the sink. Then, as with HTML sinks, you need
XSS 
to refine your input to see if you can deliver a successful XSS attack.
CSRF 
Exploiting DOM XSS with different sources and sinks Clickjacking 
DOM-based 
CORS 

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10/18/2020 What is DOM-based XSS (cross-site scripting)? Tutorial & Examples | Web Security Academy
In principle, a website is vulnerable to DOM-based cross-site scripting if there is an executable path via which data XXE 
can propagate from source to sink. In practice, different sources and sinks have differing properties and behavior that SSRF 
can affect exploitability, and determine what techniques are necessary. Additionally, the website's scripts might Request smuggling 
perform validation or other processing of data that must be accommodated when attempting to exploit a vulnerability. Command injection 
There are a variety of sinks that are relevant to DOM-based vulnerabilities. Please refer to the list below for details. Server-side template injection 
The document.write sink works with script elements, so you can use a simple payload, such as the one below: Insecure deserialization 
Directory traversal 
document.write('... <script>alert(document.domain)</script> ...'); Access control 
Authentication 
Business logic vulnerabilities 
LAB DOM XSS in document.write sink using source location.search  Not solved Web cache poisoning 
HTTP Host header attacks 
WebSockets 
Note, however, that in some situations the content that is written to document.write includes some surrounding Information disclosure 
context that you need to take account of in your exploit. For example, you might need to close some existing elements
before using your JavaScript payload.

DOM XSS in document.write sink using source location.search inside a select

LAB Not solved
element 

The innerHTML sink doesn't accept script elements on any modern browser, nor will svg onload events fire.
Find XSS
This means you will need to use alternative elements like img or iframe. Event handlers such as onload and vulnerabilities using
onerror can be used in conjunction with these elements. For example: Burp Suite
element.innerHTML='... <img src=1 onerror=alert(document.domain)> ...'

TRY FOR FREE

LAB DOM XSS in innerHTML sink using source location.search  Not solved

If a JavaScript library such as jQuery is being used, look out for sinks that can alter DOM elements on the page. For
instance, the attr() function in jQuery can change attributes on DOM elements. If data is read from a user-
controlled source like the URL and then passed to the attr() function, then it may be possible to manipulate the
value sent to cause XSS. For example, here we have some JavaScript that changes an anchor element's href
attribute using data from the URL:
$(function(){
$('#backLink').attr("href",(new
URLSearchParams(window.location.search)).get('returnUrl'));
});
You can exploit this by modifying the URL so that the location.search source contains a malicious JavaScript
URL. After the page's JavaScript applies this malicious URL to the back link's href, clicking on the back link will
execute it:
?returnUrl=javascript:alert(document.domain)

LAB DOM XSS in jQuery anchor href attribute sink using location.search source  Not solved

If a framework like AngularJS is used, it may be possible to execute JavaScript without angle brackets or events.
When a site uses the ng-app attribute on an HTML element, it will be processed by AngularJS. In this case,
AngularJS will execute JavaScript inside double curly braces that can occur directly in HTML or inside attributes.

DOM XSS in AngularJS expression with angle brackets and double quotes HTML-
LAB Not solved
encoded 

DOM XSS combined with reflected and stored data

Some pure DOM-based vulnerabilities are self-contained within a single page. If a script reads some data from the
URL and writes it to a dangerous sink, then the vulnerability is entirely client-side.
However, sources aren't limited to data that is directly exposed by browsers - they can also originate from the website.
For example, websites often reflect URL parameters in the HTML response from the server. This is commonly
associated with normal XSS, but it can also lead to so-called reflected+DOM vulnerabilities.

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10/18/2020 What is DOM-based XSS (cross-site scripting)? Tutorial & Examples | Web Security Academy
In a reflected+DOM vulnerability, the server processes data from the request, and echoes the data into the response.
The reflected data might be placed into a JavaScript string literal, or a data item within the DOM, such as a form field.
A script on the page then processes the reflected data in an unsafe way, ultimately writing it to a dangerous sink.
eval('var data = "reflected string"');

LAB Reflected DOM XSS  Not solved

Websites may also store data on the server and reflect it elsewhere. In a stored+DOM vulnerability, the server
receives data from one request, stores it, and then includes the data in a later response. A script within the later
response contains a sink which then processes the data in an unsafe way.
element.innerHTML = comment.author

LAB Stored DOM XSS  Not solved

Which sinks can lead to DOM-XSS vulnerabilities?

The following are some of the main sinks that can lead to DOM-XSS vulnerabilities:
document.write()
document.writeln()
document.domain
someDOMElement.innerHTML
someDOMElement.outerHTML
someDOMElement.insertAdjacentHTML
someDOMElement.onevent
The following jQuery functions are also sinks that can lead to DOM-XSS vulnerabilities:
add()
after()
append()
animate()
insertAfter()
insertBefore()
before()
html()
prepend()
replaceAll()
replaceWith()
wrap()
wrapInner()
wrapAll()
has()
constructor()
init()
index()
jQuery.parseHTML()
$.parseHTML()

How to prevent DOM-XSS vulnerabilities

In addition to the general measures described on the DOM-based vulnerabilities page, you should avoid allowing data
from any untrusted source to be dynamically written to the HTML document.

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