Nextjs-auth0 Cross-site Scripting

The Auth0 Next.js SDK is a library for implementing user authentication in Next.js applications. Versions before and including `1.4.1` are vulnerable to reflected XSS. An attacker can execute arbitrary code by providing an XSS payload in the `error` query parameter which is then processed by the callback handler as an error message. You are affected by this vulnerability if you are using `@auth0/nextjs-auth0` version `1.4.1` or lower **unless** you are using custom error handling that does not return the error message in an HTML response. Upgrade to version `1.4.1` to resolve. The fix adds basic HTML escaping to the error message and it should not impact your users. (2021-06-25, CVE-2021-32702)

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>