Page request validation is disabled¶
ID: cs/web/request-validation-disabled
Kind: problem
Security severity: 7.5
Severity: warning
Precision: high
Tags:
- security
- frameworks/asp.net
- external/cwe/cwe-016
Query suites:
- csharp-code-scanning.qls
- csharp-security-extended.qls
- csharp-security-and-quality.qls
Click to see the query in the CodeQL repository
Request validation is a feature in ASP.NET that protects web applications against potentially malicious content in requests, specifically against cross-site scripting attacks (XSS).
Recommendation¶
Enable the directive validateRequest in your web.config file: <pages validateRequest="true" />
Example¶
The following example shows the validateRequest flag set to false in a Web.config file for ASP.NET. This will disable validation, and leave the web application vulnerable against common XSS attacks:
<configuration>
<system.web>
<pages validateRequest="false" />
</system.web>
</configuration>
If validateRequest is set to true, validation is enabled:
<configuration>
<system.web>
<pages validateRequest="true" />
</system.web>
</configuration>
References¶
MSDN: Request Validation in ASP.NET .
Common Weakness Enumeration: CWE-16.