Researchers Warn of AJAX Security Risks

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August 6, 2007 (Computerworld) -- LAS VEGAS -- Companies that have used Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) to jazz up corporate Web sites may be dangerously vulnerable to a variety of Web-based threats, warned researchers at the Black Hat USA conference here last week.

Billy Hoffman, lead research and development engineer at Web security vendor SPI Dynamics Inc. in Atlanta, said at the conference that many corporate Web developers are not paying attention to fundamental AJAX security issues.

AJAX allows a Web site to refresh content without reloading an entire page.

Among the biggest threats, said Hoffman, is that poorly coded AJAX sites can provide hackers with an opening to change the order in which a program executes functions.

Any secrets stored in Java­Script will be found and exploited, Hoffman said in a white paper he wrote with Bryan Sullivan, development manager at SPI. This is a far easier mistake to make in an AJAX application than in a traditional Web application because the client plays a larger role in data processing, presentation and possibly storage.

Hoffman and Sullivan explained the security holes to attendees during a session at the conference.

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