Web Application Security

HTML injection and cross-site scripting (XSS) is an ideal vulnerable to exploitfor attackers across the spectrum of sophistication and programming knowledge. Exploits are easy to write, requiring no more tools than a text editor—or sometimes just the browser’s navigation bar—and a cursory knowledge of JavaScript, unlike buffer overlow exploits that call for more esoteric assembly, compilers, and debugging. XSS also offers the path of least resistance for a payload that can affect Windows, OSX, Linux, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera alike. The web browser is a universal platform for displaying HTML and interacting with complex web sites. When that HTML is subtly manipulated by a few malicious characters, the browser becomes a universal platform for exposure. With so much personal data stored in web applications and accessible through URLs, there’s no need for attackers to make the extra effort to obtain “root” or “administrator” access on a victim’s system. The reason for targ...

Sandcat is multi-process remote web application security scanner. It maps the entire web site structure ( all links , forms , XHR requests and other entry points) and tries to find custom,unique vulnerabilities by simulating a wide range of attacks/sending thousands of requests (mostly GET and POST).  It also tests for SQL Inection, XSS, File inclusion and many other web application vulnerability classes.  Sandcat's code scanning functionality automates the process of reviewing the web application's code .  Source : CEH Lectures ...

The problem as I see it..... Where to start? Let me start by telling you that most of the books you read are wrong. The code samples you copy of the internet to do a specific task are wrong (the wrong way to handle a GET request), the function you copied from that work colleague who in turn copied from a forum is wrong (the wrong way to handle redirects). Start to question everything. Maybe this post is wrong this is the kind of mindset you require in order to protect your sites from XSS. You as a developer need to start thinking more about your code. If a article you are reading contains stuff like echo $_GET or Response.Write without filtering then it’s time to close that article. Are frameworks the answer? I think in my honest opinion no. Yes a framework might prevent XSS in the short term but in the long term the framework code will be proven to contain mistakes as it evolves and thus when it is exploited it will be more severe than if you wrote the code yourself. Why more ...