Unsanitized user input in redirect

• Rule ID: java_lang_open_redirect
• Languages: java
• Source: open_redirect.yml

Description

Using unsanitized user input to perform redirects can make your application vulnerable to phishing attacks. This occurs when user input is directly used to determine the destination of a redirect without proper validation or sanitization, allowing attackers to redirect users to malicious sites, potentially compromising their security.

Remediations

• Do not use unsanitized user input to construct URLs for redirects. This can lead to phishing attacks and compromise user security.
• Do validate user input by employing a safe list or a mapping strategy when constructing URLs for redirects. This ensures that only pre-approved destinations are used, significantly reducing the risk of malicious redirects.

  private static final Map<String, String> URL_MAPPING = new HashMap<>();
  static {
    URL_MAPPING.put("google", "https://www.google.com");
    URL_MAPPING.put("openai", "https://www.openai.com");
    URL_MAPPING.put("github", "https://www.github.com");
    URL_MAPPING.put("root", "https://www.example.com");
  }
  
  String redirectUrl = URL_MAPPING.getOrDefault(request.getParameter("redirectTo"), "root");
  response.addHeader("Location", redirectUrl);

References

• OWASP Unvalidated Redirects and Forwards Cheat Sheet

Associated CWE

• CWE-601: URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect')

OWASP Top 10

• A01:2021 - Broken Access Control

Configuration

To skip this rule during a scan, use the following flag

bearer scan /path/to/your-project/ --skip-rule=java_lang_open_redirect

To run only this rule during a scan, use the following flag

bearer scan /path/to/your-project/ --only-rule=java_lang_open_redirect