Hey fellow devs,
I conducted an experiment to gauge the efficacy of my Web Application Firewall (WAF) from Wordfence, a WordPress security plugin boasting a built-in firewall. I aimed to assess its ability to thwart malicious activity.
I sourced around 500 XSS payloads from a GitHub repository:
https://github.com/pgaijin66/XSS-Payloads/blob/master/payload/payload.txt
Although the templates are somewhat outdated, the underlying HTML tags remain largely unchanged since their inception by Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee during his tenure at CERN and Netscape Communications. As we all know, script is script, regardless of geographical location.
I chose to test the search form, a ubiquitous feature present on nearly every website since the 1990s. It's a fundamental aspect of web development.
As it turns out, Wordfence's WAF successfully blocked the majority of attempts to inject malicious code into the search form. The firewall returned a 403 Forbidden response code, indicating that the server understood the request but refused to authorize it, as per MDN dоcumentation. Wordfence displayed a warning message, stating that a potentially unsafe operation had been detected.
However, there were a couple of caveats. The WAF missed around 165 suspicious code insertions from the XSS-Payloads list. Nevertheless, the form functioned smoothly, and no script was executed or defacement occurred.
I propose two theories: either Wordfence's WAF deems these templates safe or it's aware that the server-side WordPress engine processes search form data in a way that prevents script execution and defacement. The PHP form likely performs some sort of sanitization, converting special characters and preventing malicious activity.
In conclusion, both Wordfence's WAF and the WordPress engine itself appear to have successfully blocked the execution of malicious scripts and defacement attempts. All 500+ XSS payloads were effectively neutralized, which is a positive outcome.
Have you ever encountered any issues with malicious scripts being launched on your site through forms?
Using outdated XSS payloads and testing only the search form is a narrow approach. What about other potential entry points, like comment sections or user registration forms? Moreover, what about more sophisticated attacks, like DOM-based XSS or JSONP-based attacks? Wordfence's WAF might have blocked the majority of payloads, but that doesn't mean it's foolproof.
I know that security is an ongoing cat-and-mouse game. Complacency can lead to vulnerabilities being exploited.
From a technical standpoint, you can optimize the process by implementing a more sophisticated approach. For instance, when configuring the rules, you can inject a snippet like this to enhance the filtering mechanism. By doing so, you'll theoretically redirect over half of the requests from the list to the browser for verification, leveraging the HTTP1 protocol.
This approach is particularly effective since most automated requests utilize this protocol. However, I conducted a test by randomly inserting the snippet into the search form on a WordPress site, and surprisingly, all requests were redirected to the 404 page.
Given that the tests were conducted with a 99.9% likelihood from a single IP address, it's probable that the server itself could have mitigated the HTTP flood attacks through rate limiting, thereby preventing them from reaching the site's backend (after approximately 160 requests). For the uninitiated, this means the malicious traffic might not have even touched the Virtual Private Network (VPN) or the plugin in question.
In other words, the site's security might have been adequate even without the 'ecurity' plugin.
Notably, no tests were conducted without the plugin, and the testing environment and server configurations remain unknown.
A separate concern is the tester's ability to accurately assess the efficacy of each attack, but we'll refrain from delving into that topic further.
Although such tests might be useful, the methodology and scripts utilizing the attack list are conspicuous by their absence. Consequently, the initial post appears to be nothing more than hot air.
In conclusion, security is an ongoing, meticulous process that requires a systematic approach (c) RiDDi.
Yes, Wordfence Web Application Firewall (WAF) effectively protects against Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks. It identifies and blocks malicious payloads by analyzing incoming requests and filtering harmful scripts. XSS attacks exploit vulnerabilities in websites to execute unauthorized scripts, potentially compromising user data or site functionality. Wordfence's WAF includes rule-based detection, real-time threat intelligence, and regular updates to defend against new XSS variants. This proactive approach ensures robust protection, making it a trusted solution for securing WordPress sites from XSS and other threats.
Wordfence Web Application Firewall (WAF) provides robust protection against a variety of security threats, including Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks. XSS attacks involve injecting malicious scripts into web pages, which can be executed on users' browsers. Wordfence WAF detects and blocks such malicious attempts by inspecting incoming traffic for suspicious code patterns and known vulnerabilities. It offers real-time protection, continuously updated with the latest security rules, to safeguard WordPress sites from XSS and other types of web-based attacks, ensuring the integrity and safety of user interactions.