Cross Site Scripting

Cross site scripting (also known as XSS) occurs when a web application gathers malicious data from a user. The data is usually gathered in the form of a hyperlink which contains malicious content within it. The user will most likely click on this link from another website, instant message, or simply just reading a web board or email message. Usually the attacker will encode the malicious portion of the link to the site in HEX (or other encoding methods) so the request is less suspicious looking to the user when clicked on. After the data is collected by the web application, it creates an output page for the user containing the malicious data that was originally sent to it, but in a manner to make it appear as valid content from the website.

Many popular guestbook and forum programs allow users to submit posts with html and javascript embedded in them. If for example I was logged in as “john” and read a message by “joe” that contained malicious JavaScript in it, then it may be possible for “joe” to hijack my session just by reading his bulletin board post. Further details on how attacks like this are accomplished via “cookie theft” are explained in detail below.

Source: “The Cross Site Scripting FAQ”. Click link to read the whole faq.

Update: Users who are looking for protection against Cross Site Scripting attacks may want to check out the excellent NoScript add-on for the Firefox web browser. XX protection is automatically enabled after installation. The extension for Firefox blocks untrusted websites from injecting scripts into trusted websites, which is an excellent way of protecting users from XSS attacks.

Additional information about Cross Site Scripting are available on Wikipedia. The external links section on the site is especially useful for researchers and security interested users.

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Author: Martin Brinkmann, Thursday October 27, 2005 -
Tags:cross site scripting, hack, harmful, malicious, xss