Client-side injection, weak passwords, and missing object-level authorization can expose different parts of the same web application. This course examines reflected and stored XSS, web login dictionary attacks, and IDOR through command-line exercises against isolated local targets.
You will trace how input reaches HTML and JavaScript contexts, model a persistent cookie-exfiltration scenario, configure Hydra from a real login failure response, and manipulate API object references while authenticated. A final challenge asks you to chain weak credentials, IDOR, and stored XSS to demonstrate how several flaws compound one another.
What You Will Learn
- Locate reflected input and test how an application handles HTML-special characters.
- Break out of an HTML attribute and construct a reflected JavaScript proof-of-concept.
- Store an XSS payload and capture a simulated administrator cookie with a local Netcat listener.
- Analyze an HTTP POST login form and configure Hydra’s
http-post-formmodule with small wordlists. - Authenticate to a local API with a Bearer token and distinguish authentication from object authorization.
- Manipulate direct object identifiers to retrieve staged user and administrator profile data.
- Chain password guessing, IDOR token access, stored XSS, and takeover verification in an independent challenge.
Who This Course Is For
This intermediate course is for learners who know basic HTTP and want practical exposure to browser-side injection and web access-control failures. It suits aspiring web penetration testers, application security learners, and developers who want to understand how client-controlled input, weak authentication, and missing authorization checks interact.
Prerequisites: Comfort with a Linux terminal and curl, basic GET/POST requests, headers, cookies, JSON, HTML tags and attributes, and simple shell loops or redirection.
Learning environment: An Ubuntu 22.04 terminal with Hydra, curl, Netcat, provided wordlists, and deliberately vulnerable local applications on ports 5000 and 8080. A supplied Python script simulates a browser victim for the cookie-capture exercise.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will I use a graphical browser to execute the XSS payloads?
No. The reflected XSS lab inspects vulnerable HTML responses with curl and explains how a browser would parse the script. The stored XSS lab uses a provided victim simulator to reproduce an administrator visit and send a staged cookie to a local listener.
Does the password attack target real user accounts?
No. Hydra and the challenge’s small wordlist operate only against intentionally weak local login endpoints. The credentials and accounts are lab fixtures.
What is the difference between authentication bypass and IDOR in this course?
The password exercises recover valid credentials and establish a session. In the IDOR lab, the learner is already authenticated, but the server fails to verify whether that user may access the profile selected by a client-controlled identifier.
Does the course send cookies or payloads to an external server?
No. The simulated cookie is sent to Netcat on localhost:8000, and every vulnerable application, API request, payload, and takeover check remains inside the course environment.
