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Cross-site Scripting occurrences in Markdown
** DISPUTED ** PHP cebe markdown parser version 1.2.0 and earlier contains a Cross Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in all distributed parsers allowing a malicious crafted script to be executed that can result in the lose of user data and sensitive user information. This attack can be exploited by crafting a three backtick wrapped payload with a character in front: L: "``````". NOTE: This has been argued as a non-issue (see references) since it is not the parser's job to sanitize malicious code from a parsed document. (2018-12-20, CVE-2018-1000874)
Why Cross-site Scripting can be dangerous
Cross site scripting is an attack where a web page executes code that is injected by an adversary. It usually appears, when users input is presented. This attack can be used to impersonate a user, take over control of the session, or even steal API keys.
The attack can be executed e.g. when you application injects the request parameter directly into the HTML code of the page returned to the user:
https://server.com/confirmation?message=Transaction+Complete
what results in:
<span>Confirmation: Transaction Complete</span>
In that case the message can be modified to become a valid Javascript code, e.g.:
https://server.com/confirmation?message=<script>dangerous javascript code here</script>
and it will be executed locally by the user's browser with full access to the user's personal application/browser data:
<span>Confirmation: <script>dangerous javascript code here</script></span>