Re: Script Based Attacks & Form Hacks

Hello,

It is not unprofessional or insecure to use JavaScript to pre-check form 
data prior to submission, any more that it is unprofessional or insecure to 
tell the user what data needs to be entered into each field in the form.
It would be insecure to rely on the JavaScript and to not check the data on 
the server side as though the JavaScript didn't exist.
It would be inconsiderate to render the form unusable if JavaScript is 
disabled.
Client side checking of form data is for user convenience (can prevent a 
round trip to the web server), not security or data integrity.

Slightly to one side of this:
Tell the user what you expect them to enter in as data.
Use client side JavaScript to try to catch errors/omissions before sending 
the form data, perhaps even do some pre-formatting.
If there are errors/omissions, tell the user again what data is expected.
When the form is submitted, check the data again, and if there are 
errors/omissions, tell the user once again what data is expected.

Don't trust any data -- always check it, not matter where it came from. 
Don't assume that the data came from a program you created, so therefore it 
must be clean. Don't assume that the data came from another module of the 
program, so therefore it must be clean. It is the "responsibility" of every 
function, subroutine, module, program, script, etc. to validate the data it 
uses. Better to be redundant. If your program puts data in a database, 
immediately retrieves the data from the database and blindly uses that data 
on the assumption that because you wrote it there just a second ago it must 
be safe, you are sitting on a time bomb. It might not go off, but why take 
the chance?

Sean

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Kurczaba" <seclists@securinews.com>
To: "Chad Maniccia" <wopazar@gmail.com>
Cc: <webappsec@securityfocus.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 7:06 PM
Subject: Re: Script Based Attacks & Form Hacks


> To prevent automatic form submissions I use a custom written 
> implementation of CAPTCHA (http://www.captcha.net/). This prevents robots 
> from automatically setting up accounts. Many web developers do use client 
> side JavaScript for controlling form submission data (ex. making sure all 
> text boxes are filled, verifying email address structure, etc.) This is 
> unprofessional and (could be) insecure. The form verification should be 
> done on the server side.
[snip]