What is the significance of using HttpOnly cookies in the context of XSS prevention?
- They are encrypted during transmission
- They can only be accessed via HTTP
- They cannot be accessed by JavaScript
- They have a longer expiration time
HttpOnly cookies cannot be accessed by JavaScript, making them more secure against XSS attacks as malicious scripts won't have access to sensitive cookie information.
What is the key difference between Stored XSS and Reflected XSS attacks?
- Reflected XSS involves non-persistent injection
- Reflected XSS targets the client-side
- Stored XSS involves persistent injection
- Stored XSS targets the server-side
Stored XSS involves the injection of malicious scripts that persist on the target, whereas Reflected XSS involves non-persistent injection and reflects the payload back to the user.
How can input sanitization be ineffective against certain advanced XSS attacks?
- By encoding payloads
- By exploiting browser vulnerabilities
- By using Content Security Policy (CSP)
- By using client-side validation
Advanced XSS attacks may bypass input sanitization through techniques like exploiting browser vulnerabilities, making sanitization ineffective in preventing such attacks.
Describe the role of Subresource Integrity (SRI) in preventing XSS attacks.
- Encrypts sensitive user information
- Enforces Same-Origin Policy
- Ensures secure transmission of data
- Validates and verifies external scripts
Subresource Integrity (SRI) is a security feature that helps prevent XSS attacks by ensuring the integrity of external scripts, validating and verifying that they haven't been tampered with.
To prevent XSS attacks, it is essential to _________ user input and _________ user output.
- decode
- encode
- sanitize
- validate
To prevent XSS attacks, it is essential to sanitize user input and encode user output. Sanitizing helps remove potentially harmful content, and encoding ensures that user data is displayed correctly and safely in the browser.
_________ is a security standard that prevents the browser from interpreting user input as script.
- CORS
- CSP
- CSRF
- HTTPS
Content Security Policy (CSP) is a security standard that prevents the browser from interpreting user input as a script. It helps mitigate the risk of XSS attacks by defining and enforcing a set of rules for how resources should be loaded on a web page.
When implementing CSP, the _________ directive is crucial in restricting resources the page can load.
- connect-src
- img-src
- script-src
- style-src
When implementing CSP, the connect-src directive is crucial in restricting resources the page can load. It controls which URLs the document is allowed to make requests to, helping prevent unwanted network requests that could pose security risks.
A web application uses user input in its search functionality without proper sanitization. Identify the type of XSS vulnerability.
- Blind XSS
- DOM-based XSS
- Reflected XSS
- Stored XSS
In a scenario where user input is stored without proper sanitization, it can lead to Stored XSS vulnerability. This occurs when the malicious script is permanently stored on the target server and served to users who access the affected page.
In a scenario where a user's session cookies are stolen via XSS, what security measures could have prevented this?
- Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Token
- Data Encryption
- HttpOnly Cookies
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
The use of HttpOnly Cookies, which cannot be accessed by JavaScript, is a security measure that could have prevented the theft of session cookies via XSS. By restricting access, the impact of XSS attacks on session data can be mitigated.
What is the primary purpose of using WebSockets in web applications?
- Batch processing
- File storage
- Real-time communication
- Static content delivery
The primary purpose of WebSockets in web applications is to enable real-time communication between the client and server, allowing for interactive and dynamic updates without the need for constant polling.