Ajax vulnerabilities
Although a most powerful set of technologies, developers must be aware of the potential security holes and breeches to which AJAX applications have (and will) become vulnerable.
According to Pete Lindstrom, Director of Security Strategies with the Hurwitz Group, Web applications are the most vulnerable elements of an organization’s IT infrastructure today. An increasing number of organizations (both for-profit and not-for-profit) depend on Internet-based applications that leverage the power of AJAX. As this group of technologies becomes more complex to allow the depth and functionality discussed, and, if organizations do not secure their web applications, then security risks will only increase.
Increased interactivity within a web application means an increase of XML, text, and general HTML network traffic. This leads to exposing back-end applications which might have not been previously vulnerable, or, if there is insufficient server-side protection, to giving unauthenticated users the possibility of manipulating their privilege configurations.
There is the general misconception that in AJAX applications are more secure because it is thought that a user cannot access the server-side script without the rendered user interface (the AJAX based webpage). XML HTTP Request based web applications obscure server-side scripts, and this obscurity gives website developers and owners a false sense of security – obscurity is not security. Since XML HTTP requests function by using the same protocol as all else on the web (HTTP), technically speaking, AJAX-based web applications are vulnerable to the same hacking methodologies as ‘normal’ applications.
Subsequently, there is an increase in session management vulnerabilities and a greater risk of hackers gaining access to the many hidden URLs which are necessary for AJAX requests to be processed.
Another weakness of AJAX is the process that formulates server requests. The Ajax engine uses JS to capture the user commands and to transform them into function calls. Such function calls are sent in plain visible text to the server and may easily reveal database table fields such as valid product and user IDs, or even important variable names, valid data types or ranges, and any other parameters which may be manipulated by a hacker.
With this information, a hacker can easily use AJAX functions without the intended interface by crafting specific HTTP requests directly to the server. In case of cross-site scripting, maliciously injected scripts can actually leverage the AJAX provided functionalities to act on behalf of the user thereby tricking the user with the ultimate aim of redirecting his browsing session (e.g., phishing) or monitoring his traffic.
