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Facebook security snafu could compromise accounts

Cross site-scripting flaws becoming a favored vector for hackers

By Jeremy Kirk

May 23, 2008 12:00 PM ET

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IDG News Service - A researcher has spotted a security problem in Facebook that could lead to hackers taking control of user accounts.

The flaw allows a hacker to execute scripts on Facebook that could potentially be used to create a fake log-in page and capture users' passwords, according to the XSSED security blog. The discovery is credited to "Mox."

"Malicious people can exploit this issue to execute script code in the context of Facebook or obtain sensitive information from its users, such [as] clear text authentication credentials with a fake log-in form," according to the blog post, written by Dimitris Pagkalos.

A cross-site scripting vulnerability can let an attacker display data from another Web site or run malicious code, which can compromise user data on the targeted Web site.

Cross-site scripting flaws are increasingly becoming one of the favored vectors for hackers, and security experts have warned that a vast number of Web sites potentially contain the vulnerability. In 2006, the Web Application Security Consortium surveyed 31,373 sites and found that more than 85% were vulnerable to cross-site scripting attacks.

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