w3c / w3c/mathml-core

Should <a> element navigate to javascript:-URLs when clicking ?

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#333 13 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Agenda
Dominant language
HTML
Stars
56
Forks
20
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Description

In HTML and SVG, anchor elements can navigate to javascript:jscode() to execute JavaScript code within the context of the current document.

As this is a popular XSS gadget, should we drop support for navigating to javascript: URLs in MathML anchor elements to improve security?

See https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/blink-dev/c/kmtYoVZjtZE/m/Fx-bMNyREAAJ

cc @fred-wang @lukewarlow

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Research direction

Start by reading the issue and the linked blink-dev discussion to understand the security concern and existing browser behavior for MathML anchor elements. A decision on whether to drop javascript: URL navigation, with the resulting specification work identified, would define what done looks like.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
html
Domain
security, web-dev
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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