Tamper Proofing Web Applications At Run-Time

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Friday, December 19, 2008 At 4:05PM

Earlier this week we presented at the OWASP NY/NJ chapter meeting on “Tamper Proofing Web Applications at Run-Time”. The talk presented some strategies and free solutions for protecting web applications from input driven attacks. The goal is to harden web applications so their non-editable inputs cannot be manipulated, which when left unchecked are a root cause of authorization bypass vulnerabilities such as parameter manipulation, forceful browsing, business logic flaws, etc. You can download the presentation slides here.

Non-editable inputs are those that end-users do not need to modify directly ‘ hidden form fields, URIs and QueryString parameters, cookies, etc. Traditional approaches to protecting this data ‘ black list and/or white list validation ‘ are insufficient as they cannot normally prevent authorization flaws within the context of a user’s session.

Our talk demonstrated two freely available solutions that provide this type of protection for existing web applications without the need to modify the underlying application source code. In general, they both operate on the theory that the application should only permit users to perform those actions that the UI has rendered to them. The idea is to leverage HTTP responses at run-time to identify all legitimate requests (forms and links), collect the state of each possible request, and then validate subsequent requests against the stored state information. Specifically, we cover HDIV (HTTP Data Integrity Validator) for J2EE web applications and SPF (Secure Parameter Filter) for .NET web applications. The implementation details of each are discussed as well as related pros and cons.

You can download the presentation slides here.

 

Author: Joe Hemler
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Copyright 2021 Aon plc. All Rights Reserved.
Cyber security services offered by Stroz Friedberg Inc. and its affiliates. Insurance products and services offered by Aon Risk Insurance Services West, Inc., Aon Risk Services Central, Inc., Aon Risk Services Northeast, Inc., Aon Risk Services Southwest, Inc., and Aon Risk Services, Inc. of Florida and their licensed affiliates. Aon UK Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in respect of insurance distribution services. FP.AGRC.238.JJ The following products or services are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority:
• Cyber risk services provided by Aon UK Limited and its affiliates
• Cyber security services provided by Stroz Friedberg Limited and its affiliates.