XPath Injection Attack
XPath Injection Attack is a type of attack in which an attacker tries to exploit vulnerabilities in an application that uses XML and XPath to query and manipulate data.
When an application uses user input to construct an XPath query, the attacker can inject malicious code into the query and cause unexpected behavior. This can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive information or modifications to the data.
For example, suppose an application uses user input to construct an XPath query to retrieve customer information. If the attacker can input a special character such as an apostrophe into the query, it can break the query syntax and allow the attacker to insert their own code.
To prevent XPath Injection Attack, the application developer should sanitize user input before using it to construct XPath queries. Additionally, the application should use parameterized queries rather than constructing queries from user input to reduce the risk of injection attacks.