Intro to npm-audit
Our applications rely more and more on external packages to enable quick deployment and ease of development. While these packages help reduce the code we have to write ourselves, it still may present risk to our application. If you are building Nodejs applications, you are probably using npm to manage your packages. For those ...
XSS in Script Tag
Filed under: Development, Security, Testing
Cross-site scripting is a pretty common vulnerability, even with many of the new advances in UI frameworks. One of the first things we mention when discussing the vulnerability is to understand the context. Is it HTML, Attribute, JavaScript, etc.? This understanding helps us better understand the types of characters that can be used to expose ...
JavaScript in an HREF or SRC Attribute
Filed under: Development, Security, Testing
The anchor (<a>) HTML tag is commonly used to provide a clickable link for a user to navigate to another page. Did you know it is also possible to set the HREF attribute to execute JavaScript. A common technique is to use the onclick event of the anchor tab to execute a JavaScript method when ...
The end of Request Validation
Filed under: Development, Security
One of the often overlooked features of ASP.Net applications was request validation. If you are a .Net web developer, you have probably seen this before. I have certainly covered it on multiple occasions on this site. The main goal: help reduce XSS type input from being supplied by the user. .Net Core has opted to ...
Security Tips for Copy/Paste of Code From the Internet
Filed under: Development, Security
Developing applications has long involved using code snippets found through textbooks or on the Internet. Rather than re-invent the wheel, it makes sense to identify existing code that helps solve a problem. It may also help speed up the development time. Years ago, maybe 12, I remember a co-worker that had a SQL Injection vulnerability in ...
SQL Injection: Calling Stored Procedures Dynamically
Filed under: Development, Security, Testing
It is not news that SQL Injection is possible within a stored procedure. There have been plenty of articles discussing this issues. However, there is a unique way that some developers execute their stored procedures that make them vulnerable to SQL Injection, even when the stored procedure itself is actually safe. Look ...
XXE and .Net
Filed under: Development, Security
XXE, or XML External Entity, is an attack against applications that parse XML. It occurs when XML input contains a reference to an external entity that it wasn't expected to have access to. Through this article, I will discuss how .Net handles XML for certain objects and how to properly configure these objects to block ...
Does the End of an Iteration Change Your View of Risk?
Filed under: Development, Security, Testing
You have been working hard for the past few weeks or months on the latest round of features for your flagship product. You are excited. The team is excited. Then a security test identifies a vulnerability. Balloons deflate and everyone starts to scramble. Take a breath. Not all vulnerabilities are created equal and the risk ...
Potentially Dangerous Request.Path Value was Detected…
Filed under: Development, Security
I have discussed request validation many times when we see the potentially dangerous input error message when viewing a web page. Another interesting protection in ASP.Net is the built-in, on by default, Request.Path validation that occurs. Have you ever seen the error below when using or testing your application?...
Securing The .Net Cookies
Filed under: Development, Security
I remember years ago when we talked about cookie poisoning, the act of modifying cookies to get the application to act differently. An example was the classic cookie used to indicate a user's role in the system. Often times it would contain 1 for Admin or 2 for Manager, etc. Change the cookie value and ...