The WordPress.org development team has issued version 3.1.1 of its open source blogging and publishing platform, a maintenance and security update to WordPress 3.1 from late February. According to the developers, the update addresses nearly 30 issues in WordPress, including three security vulnerabilities.. WordPress 3.1.1 corrects a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the media uploader, as well as a PHP related crash caused when handling specially crafted links in comments. A cross-site scripting (XSS) issue has also been fixed. The link for this article located at H Security is no longer available. . WordPress 5.8.2 addresses several security flaws including CSRF, XSS vulnerabilities and enhances safety measures within the media uploader for this open-source platform.. WordPress Update, CSRF Fix, XSS Resolution, Blogging Security, Open Source Improvement. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
I saw some discussion recently about using JSON for secured data, and I'm not sure that everyone understands the risks. I believe that JSON is unsafe for anything but public data unless you are using unpredictable URLs. . There are 2 problems. CSRF (Cross Site Request Fogery) allows attackers to bypass cookie based authentication. I blogged about it a while ago. Wikipedia talks about it. CSRF allows you to invoke cookie protected actions on a remote server. It allows Mr. Evil to trick Mrs. Innocent into transferring money from her bank account into his. Far less known perhaps, is the JSON/Array hack that allows a user to steal JSON data on Mozilla and any other platform with a modern JavaScript interpreter. . JSON can introduce vulnerabilities such as XSS, potentially compromising session security and exposing critical information.. CSRF Vulnerabilities, JSON Security Risks, Data Authentication Threats. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Cross Site Request Forgery (also known as XSRF, CSRF, and Cross Site Reference Forgery) works by exploiting the trust that a site has for the user. Site tasks are usually linked to specific urls (Example: ;stock=ebay) allowing specific actions to be performed when requested. If a user is logged into the site and an attacker tricks their browser into making a request to one of these task urls, then the task is performed and logged as the logged in user. Typically an attacker will embed malicious HTML or JavaScript code into an email or website to request a specific 'task url' which executes without the users knowledge, either directly or by utilizing a Cross-site Scripting Flaw. Injection via light markup languages such as BBCode is also entirely possible. These sorts of attacks are fairly difficult to detect potentially leaving a user debating with the website/company as to whether or not the stocks bought the day before was initiated by the user after the price plummeted. . Most of the functionality allowed by the website can be performed by an attacker utilizing CSRF. This could include posting content to a message board, subscribing to an online newsletter, performing stock trades, using an shopping cart, or even sending an e-card. CSRF can also be used as a vector to exploit existing Cross-site Scripting flaws in a given application. For example imagine an XSS issue on an online forum or blog, where an attacker could force the user through CSRF to post a copy of the next big website worm. An attacker could also utilize CSRF to relay an attack against a site of their choosing, as well as perform a Denial Of Service attack in the right circumstances. The link for this article located at CGI Security is no longer available. . Grasping XSS strategies uncovers the ways malicious actors can take advantage of web features without detection. Discover additional insights.. Cross-Site Request Forgery, Web Attack Techniques, XSRF Exploits. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
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