Course

In this lab, you will explore how user input can be exploited in XPath expressions to access restricted elements in an XML document. XPath, much like SQL, is a query language used to select nodes from XML documents. By injecting carefully crafted payloads, you can manipulate these queries to retrieve data that should not be accessible, such as passwords.

The lab provides a step-by-step guide on how to identify and exploit these vulnerabilities. You will learn to use boolean logic in XPath, similar to SQL injection, and how to move within the node hierarchy to gather sensitive information. The exercise also covers countermeasures, emphasizing the importance of input validation to prevent such attacks.