ABSTRACT

This action form mapping disables the form's validate() method.

EXPLANATION

An action form mapping should never disable validation. Disabling validation disables the Struts Validator as well as any custom validation logic performed by the form.

Example: An action form mapping that disables validation.


<action path="/download"
type="com.website.d2.action.DownloadAction"
name="downloadForm"
scope="request"
input=".download"
validate="false">
</action>


Disabling validation exposes this action to numerous types of attacks. Unchecked input is the root cause of vulnerabilities like cross-site scripting, process control, and SQL injection. Although J2EE applications are not generally susceptible to memory corruption attacks, if a J2EE application interfaces with native code that does not perform array bounds checking, an attacker may be able to use an input validation mistake in the J2EE application to launch a buffer overflow attack.

REFERENCES

[1] Standards Mapping - OWASP Top 10 2004 - (OWASP 2004) A1 Unvalidated Input

[2] Standards Mapping - OWASP Top 10 2010 - (OWASP 2010) A6 Security Misconfiguration

[3] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3 - (STIG 3) APP3510 CAT I

[4] Standards Mapping - Common Weakness Enumeration - (CWE) CWE ID 109

[5] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 1.2 - (PCI 1.2) Requirement 6.3.1.1

[6] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 1.1 - (PCI 1.1) Requirement 6.5.1

[7] Standards Mapping - FIPS200 - (FISMA) SI

[8] T. Husted et al. Struts in Action: Building Web Applications with the Leading Java Framework Manning Publications

[9] The Struts project The Apache Foundation