OWASP / OWASP/ASVS

Clarification: 1.5.1"and"

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#3,246 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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2) Awaiting response V1 (prev V5)
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Description

Verify that the application configures XML parsers to use a restrictive
configuration and that unsafe features such as resolving external entities are
disabled to prevent XML eXternal Entity (XXE) attacks.

The "and" makes it sound like they are two separate things, but in reality, "unsafe features" are part of the "restrictive configuration" as far as I know, because implementers cannot achieve a restrictive configuration without dealing with unsafe features. The requirement wording is not technically incorrect, but it is redundant and potentially misleading. The requirement also does not cover the critical aspects of XXE. In simple words, this is a weak requirement.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Locate the requirement in the raw Markdown files under the 5.0/en tree, using the quoted XML parser and XXE wording as the search terms. Review the requirement's wording and surrounding context; it is done when the text clearly and accurately describes restrictive XML parser configuration and the relevant XXE protections.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
xml
Domain
documentation, security
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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