Can JSON encoding in a URL pose a risk of XSS attacks?

To ensure my application has URL-friendly capabilities, I am storing its context as a JSON within the URL. This results in something like:

http://mysite.dev/myapppage/target#?context={%22attr1%22%3A{%22target_id-0%22%3A{%22value%22%3A%223%22%2C%22label%22%3A%22Hello%22}}}

This encodes a simple context:

{
"attr1":
    {
    "target_id-0":
        {
        "value": "3",
        "label": "Hello"
        }
    }
}

I serialize my object using:

JSON.stringify(context)

And deserialize it using:

var hashParamsElements = window.location.toString().split('?');
hashParamsElements.shift(); // we skip the first part of the URL
var hashParams = $.deparam(hashParamsElements.join('?'));
var contextString = hashParams.context;
var context = JSON.parse(contextString);

The context is only stored to read variables; there is no executed code within it. Is this method XSS safe?

If there is a threat, how can I mitigate it?

Answer №1

A potential threat arises when utilizing various decoding methods for JSON, specifically eval and new Function. These functions execute JavaScript code directly, opening the door to non-persistent XSS attacks through inserting code in URLs (and linking to it).

JSON.parse, on the other hand, does not pose this vulnerability and is protected against these types of attacks.

For more information, visit json.org.

Answer №2

Is the label variable ultimately incorporated into the Document Object Model (DOM)? For example, would

$('#something').html(context.attr1.target_id-0.label)
result in its insertion?

Subsequently, injecting a <script>...</script> tag within the label could potentially lead to a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability.

Answer №3

In my opinion, there is no danger present. It is entirely secure. The function JSON.parse does not permit any other functions to execute.

Furthermore, what is the purpose of using a question mark ?? If you wish to create a more authentic URL experience, consider utilizing hashbang instead.

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