ABSTRACT

All Struts forms should extend a Validator class.

EXPLANATION

In order to use the Struts Validator, a form must extend one of the following:


ValidatorForm
ValidatorActionForm
DynaValidatorActionForm
DynaValidaorForm


You must extend one of these classes because the Struts Validator ties in to your application by implementing the validate() method in these classes.

Forms derived from the following classes cannot use the Struts Validator:


ActionForm
DynaActionForm


Bypassing the validation framework for a form exposes the application 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 - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3 - (STIG 3) APP3510 CAT I

[3] Standards Mapping - Common Weakness Enumeration - (CWE) CWE ID 104

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

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

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

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

[8] The Struts project The Apache Foundation