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  1. Struts 2
  2. WW-3410

XSS vulnerability in UrlHelper.java

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Details

    • Bug
    • Status: Closed
    • Major
    • Resolution: Fixed
    • 2.1.8.1
    • 2.2.1
    • None
    • Patch, Important

    Description

      WebWise Security has discovered a XSS vulnerability in Struts 2.1.8.1. This particular vulnerability exists in UrlHelper.java and allows an attacker to execute arbitrary javascript that could be use to steal a user's session credentials or execute forced javascript redirects to phishing sites. This vulnerability manifests itself when the <s:url> tag is used with includeParams='all'.

      Let's say there is an action (myAction.action) that serves a JSP Page with the following snippet:
      <a href="<s:url includeParams="all"/>">My Link</a>

      Attack 1:
      /myAction.action?param"><sCript>alert('XSS');</sCript>=1

      This is very similiar to the vulnerability in Security Bulletin S2-002; however, the implemented fix for S2-002 only checks for "<script>", not "<sCript>".

      Attack 2:
      /myAction.action?param"onMouseOver%3D"javascript:alert('XSS');">=1

      Simply checking for <script> isn't sufficient because certain attributes can be injected to execute javascript. In attack 2, the user simply has to hover over the link with their mouse and arbitrary javascript will be executed.

      I attached a possible fix as a patch. Essentially, both the key and value for a parameter must be escaped when creating the query string in UrlHelper.java.

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            lukaszlenart Lukasz Lenart
            sford Sean Ford
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