Description
An open redirect is an application that takes a parameter and redirects a user to the parameter value without any validation. This vulnerability is used in phishing attacks to get victims visit malicious sites without realizing that.
URL redirection is sometimes used as a part of phishing attacks that confuse visitors about which web site they are visiting. URL redirection is what all spammers love to have.
A remote attacker can redirect users from your website to a specified URL. This problem may assist an attacker to conduct phishing attacks, trojan distribution, spammers, malicious websites that contains exploitkit .
How it works ! How to solve it !
URL redirection could be found in forms inputs for example as a return value after validation user credentials , or it might be in javascript codes .. etc
That mean for protection your script should properly sanitize user input.
Example :
http://Vulnerable-Website.com/?url=http://Target-Website.com
http://Vulnerable-Website.com/login.php?failed=http://Target-Website.com
How hackers/Spammers could use it ?!
- Fake login page - EXAMPLE : facking login page of facebook or twitter. could steal victim credentials .
- Avoid spammers links from being blocked in social media , such as facebook .
- Redirect victims to racial , ethnic ...etc websites .
How i can know the link is safe ?!
There is several ways you should follow to protect your self from malicious links which is :
- Figure the opened URL , Example : Facebook.com is different than Facebook.freeh.com .
- Keep your antivirus up to date . i recomended you to use : Essential Security .
- Do not open links that saying some hot words , such as : click to win 10.000$ , free mobile credits, claim your money now ... etc .
What else you know about URL redirection , comment down , we can update this article together .
Regards .
khalil-shreateh.com
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