For example, if you have a WordPress site that allows guest users and you have a post or page with Rich Media like Image or Media File, then you are open to Cross-Site Scripting.

If you do not filter your HTML content, then an attacker can inject malicious code into the source of your site. For example, with the reSmush.it WordPress plugin, you can upload images or media files to your site and reSmush.it will automatically create a shortened URL and store it in a user’s profile. An attacker could then target this user directly with a Cross-Site Scripting attack.

If you want to prevent Cross-Site Scripting, then you should always filter your HTML content before outputting it.

How to prevent Cross-site Scripting in WordPress

If you want to prevent Cross-Site Scripting, then you should always filter your HTML content before outputting it. This can easily be done with the use of a plugin such as the WP Security Scanner. You should also make sure that your theme has appropriate security filters installed. It is also important to limit access to admin pages and restrict access on your login page.

If you have any questions about preventing Cross-Site Scripting in WordPress or other CMS like Drupal, please contact us at support@reSmush.it for more information or visit our help center for more tutorials on this topic.

How to Prevent Cross-Site Scripting?

To prevent Cross-Site Scripting, use sanitization in your WordPress theme or plugin. Let's say that you are using the reSmush.it WordPress plugin for images or media files.
If you want to filter HTML, then use a function like wp_kses(). This will remove any malicious code that could be injected into your site by the attacker.
As another example, let's say that you have a blog with multiple posts and pages with Rich Media content and you are using the WP Rocket plugin. In this case, we're going to use a function like wp_kses() to filter out any malicious code before it can be outputted onto your site.

How to Protect Yourself From Cross-Site Scripting

First and foremost, you should always filter your HTML content before outputting it. For example, WordPress has built-in protection to limit the user's ability to change anything on a post or page. Even if this is disabled by an attacker, there are still many other ways to protect yourself from Cross-Site Scripting. You can also use one of the many plugins that target Cross-Site Scripting on WordPress sites. As another means of protection, you can use Content Security Policy (CSP). This helps to protect against malicious code injection by ensuring that only well-known sources are allowed in addition to preventing inline JavaScript execution. If you use CSP, then most attacks will not be successful because the attacker would need to bypass both a Content Security Policy and then an XSS Filter.

How to prevent Cross-Site Scripting?

One simple way to prevent Cross-Site Scripting is by filtering your HTML content. You can filter your HTML in a number of ways. The easiest way is by using an .htaccess file and inserting some basic commands that will allow you to filter every page on your site. For example, if you want to filter the entire site, then you would use the following commands:
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [F]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule .* index.php [L]
If you only wanted to filter specific pages, then you would use the following commands:
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [F]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !-f
RewriteRule (.*) index.php [L]

Timeline

Published on: 10/10/2022 21:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 10/11/2022 18:31:00 UTC

References