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Showing posts from January, 2012

Clavis - A Web Security Microframework

Web programming has been a pretty big deal for over 10 years now, but in some ways the tools web developers use haven't really progressed that much, particularly when it comes to security. For instance, CSRF and clickjacking are instances of the Confused Deputy problem, a security problem known since at least 1988. Since these are both instances of the same underlying problem, in principle they should have the same or very similar solutions. However, the current solutions to these pervasive vulnerabilities are designed to solve only the specific problem at hand, and not the general problem of Confused Deputies. This means that if another HTML or Flash enhancement comes along that introduces another Confused Deputy, these solutions will not necessarily prevent exploitation of that vulnerability. However, if we solve the underlying Confused Deputy problem, then that solution will address all present and future Confused Deputies , assuming any new features don't violate the