[
https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/WW-5623?focusedWorklogId=1014136&page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:worklog-tabpanel#worklog-1014136
]
ASF GitHub Bot logged work on WW-5623:
--------------------------------------
Author: ASF GitHub Bot
Created on: 09/Apr/26 00:17
Start Date: 09/Apr/26 00:17
Worklog Time Spent: 10m
Work Description: tranquac commented on PR #1653:
URL: https://github.com/apache/struts/pull/1653#issuecomment-4210561215
Hi @lukaszlenart,
Thank you for the review feedback! I've pushed a follow-up commit addressing
both points:
### Changes in this update
**1. Replaced custom `encodeHtml()` with `StringEscapeUtils.escapeHtml4()`**
Removed the custom helper method and switched to
`org.apache.commons.text.StringEscapeUtils.escapeHtml4()`, consistent with how
the rest of Struts core handles HTML encoding (e.g., `DefaultActionProxy`,
`Property`, `TextProviderHelper`).
**2. Added 3 focused unit tests in `PostbackResultTest`**
| Test | What it covers |
|---|---|
| `testFormActionHtmlEscaping` | XSS payload with double-quote attribute
breakout (`"onmouseover="alert(1)"`). Asserts escaped entities in rendered
action attribute and verifies raw `"` cannot break out. |
| `testFormActionEscapesAllHtmlSpecialChars` | Covers all 4 critical HTML
characters (`"`, `&`, `<`, `>`) individually, asserting each is properly
escaped to its HTML entity (`"`, `&`, `<`, `>`). |
| `testFormActionCleanLocationUnchanged` | Regression test — verifies that a
clean URL without special characters renders unchanged in the action attribute.
|
All 7 tests pass (4 existing + 3 new):
```
Tests run: 7, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0
BUILD SUCCESS
```
Please let me know if there's anything else you'd like me to adjust.
Issue Time Tracking
-------------------
Worklog Id: (was: 1014136)
Time Spent: 0.5h (was: 20m)
> XSS in PostbackResult.doExecute()
> ---------------------------------
>
> Key: WW-5623
> URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/WW-5623
> Project: Struts 2
> Issue Type: Bug
> Components: Core
> Affects Versions: 7.1.1
> Reporter: Tran Quac
> Priority: Major
> Fix For: 7.2.0
>
> Time Spent: 0.5h
> Remaining Estimate: 0h
>
> h2. Summary
> PostbackResult.doExecute() at line 107 embeds finalLocation into a form
> action attribute via raw string concatenation without HTML encoding. The
> response Content-Type is text/html (line 103). A double-quote character in
> the location breaks out of the attribute, enabling reflected XSS.
> This is an encoding inconsistency: form field names and values at lines
> 218-219 ARE properly URL-encoded via URLEncoder.encode(), but the form action
> attribute was not encoded at all.
> h2. Changes
> * {*}PostbackResult.java{*}: Add encodeHtml() method to escape &, ", <, > in
> finalLocation before embedding in the HTML form tag. Consistent with the
> existing encoding approach for form field values.
> h2. Impact
> When a developer uses PostbackResult with an OGNL expression referencing a
> user-controllable property (a documented framework feature for dynamic
> routing), an attacker can inject arbitrary HTML attributes and elements via
> the form action attribute.
> h2. Refer
> [https://github.com/apache/struts/pull/1653]
> [https://github.com/apache/struts/pull/1653/changes/1b2242487179f38009d118707b8e70ab396a3d27]
--
This message was sent by Atlassian Jira
(v8.20.10#820010)
