NOC WAF Protects Against
Cross Site Scripting (XSS) Attacks
"Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks are a type of injection, in which malicious scripts are injected into otherwise benign and trusted websites. XSS attacks occur when an attacker uses a web application to send malicious code, generally in the form of a browser side script, to a different end user."
- Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP)
Understanding XSS Injection Vulnerabilities
XSS Injections
Cross Site Scriptin (XSS) vulnerabilities are one of the more well-known vulnerabilities. They are similar to SQLi vulnerabilities in that they fall into a broader bucket - Injection Vulnerabilities as defined by OWASP.
Note that In 2021, the OWASP organization dropped Injection vulnerabilities from the #1 spot in their Top 10 list, to #3. This reduction is not reflective on its pervasiveness or potential impact to your application.
Not all XSS vulnerabilities are the same, and the severity is highly dependent on the type.
XSS Types
XSS vulnerabilities allow bad actors to manipulate the JavaScript on a web application. By design, any web application can fall susceptible to this vulnerability if the web application lacks proper data sanitization.
The NOC WAF is able to mitigate attacks that try to abuse XSS vulnerabilities.
Protecting Against Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Vulnerabilities
Cloud-Based Protection
XSS vulnerabilities get exploited on web applications when bad actors are able to inject a web application with a malicious executable script (often abusing JavaScript).
NOC helps mitigate attacks that try to exploit these vulnerabilities through its virtual hardening and patching technology. As a reverse proxy, NOC sits between your web application, and the internet. When a user queries your web application, our network will inspect the query structure and ensure that it is not attempting to exploit a weakness.
One of the key features of the WAF platform is its ability to Virtually Harden and Patch web applications at the edge. This technology protects the application by preventing the attacker from hitting the application back-end. The attack registers on our network, we detect, strip it from the request, and block the attacker from attempting further exploits against your application.
Secure Coding Best Practice
Flaws in code are bound to happen, but there are things all software developers can do to help reduce the risk of introducing an XSS vulnerability into their application.
The thing that makes XSS so pervasive is it prey's on a user's trust relationship with the web application they are interfacing with. It's further complicated because, by design, browsers are unable to decipher if the malicious code is from the developer or a bad actor.