This article is a part of our Vulnerability Database (back to index)
Cross-site Scripting occurrences in Whoogle-search
The package whoogle-search before 0.7.2 are vulnerable to Cross-site Scripting (XSS) via the query string parameter q. In the case where it does not contain the http string, it is used to build the error_message that is then rendered in the error.html template, using the [flask.render_template](https://flask.palletsprojects.com/en/2.1.x/api/flask.render_template) function. However, the error_message is rendered using the [| safe filter](https://jinja.palletsprojects.com/en/3.1.x/templates/working-with-automatic-escaping), meaning the user input is not escaped. (2022-07-12, CVE-2022-25303)
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>