Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Twitter fixes cross-site scripting flaw

The flaw could have allowed a hacker to steal data

A serious security flaw was apparently found on Twitter on Tuesday but was quickly fixed.

The problem was a cross-site scripting flaw, wrote Georg Wicherski of Kaspersky Lab on the company's blog.

Cross-site scripting is an attack in which a script drawn from another Web site is allowed to run that shouldn't, which can be used to steal information or potentially cause other malicious code to run.

Wicherski wrote that it appeared a user only needed to hover over a malicious link in order to trigger the flaw, but another test showed that no user interaction was required.

"It is possible to load secondary JavaScript from an external URL (Uniform Resource Locator) with no user interaction, which makes this definitely wormable and dangerous," Wicherski wrote.

Twitter acknowledged the problem. "We've identified and are patching a XSS attack; as always, please message @safety if you have info regarding such an exploit," the company wrote on Tuesday afternoon.

Code for the attack was posted on the IRC instant messaging service, Wicherski wrote. Other people who noticed the issue posted several harmless proof-of-concept demonstrations, wrote Paul Mutton of Netcraft. The flaw could have allowed something as benign as a pop-up message when mousing over a tweet, as shown on Netcraft's blog.

But Mutton wrote that one user demonstrated more serious possibilities such as stealing cookies. Cookies are small pieces of data stored in a Web browser that are used for tracking users and remembering if a user wants to stay logged in to a Web site.

Audits of Web sites have shown that cross-site scripting flaws are among the most common Web application vulnerabilities.

IBM's annual X-Force Trend and Risk Report found earlier this year that cross-site scripting attacks overtook SQL injection as the number-one type of Web application vulnerability. SQL injection attacks occur when commands are inputted into Web-based forms, which can cause back-end databases to reveal data if those databases are not configured properly.

Another survey by WhiteHat Security, a company that specializes in finding Web application vulnerabilities, found there's a 66 percent chance a website will have a cross-site scripting problem.

Send news tips and comments to jeremy_kirk@idg.com

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: IBM, IBM Australia, Kaspersky, Kaspersky Lab, Netcraft, X-Force
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: Exploits / vulnerabilities, kaspersky lab, malware, security
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Simplifying branch office security
    Securing your business network is more important than ever. Malware, botnets and other malicious programs threaten your network—at your central offices and your branch offices alike. Yet enforcing consistent network security throughout your enterprise can be challenging—especially for those of you with branch offices with few users and no IT expertise. This paper introduces a new standard—an innovative, unified, cost-effective solution for managing branch office security, with centralised reporting and a clear process for determining return on investment (ROI).
    Learn more »
  • Seven Tips for Securing Mobile Workers
    Seven Tips for Securing Mobile Workers is intended to offer practical guidance on dealing with one of the fastest growing threats to the security of sensitive and confidential information.
    Learn more »
  • Gartner MarketScope for Application Life Cycle Management
    Organisations adopting agile practices, utilising global and distributed teams, or exploiting complex processes and technologies are most likely to benefit from using ALM tools to plan, manage and report on their development activities. This MarketScope assesses the market offerings and their providers.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments