The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Reddit swiftly squishes XSS worm

WTF comment spam script

Agentless Backup is Not a Myth

Popular social news website Reddit has stopped the spread of a cross-site scripting (XSS) worm that hit the site on Monday.

The XSS worm spread via comments on the site, originally from the account of a user called xssfinder.

Reddit failed to filter out JavaScript in some cases, specifically when a user hovered his or her mouse over a link, a factor the miscreants behind xssfinder's account exploited to run a proof of concept attack.

In an apparent test attack, xssfinder posted a comment linked to malicious scripts on a thread called "Guy on a bike in New York 'high fives' people hailing cabs".

Users reading the comment ended up sending massive amounts of spam comments onto other Reddit threads.

Reddit administrators moved in promptly to close the vulnerability and restore order before things got out of hand. Throughout the confusion the site was never down.

xssfinder's account was deleted soon after the attack began, reports Finnish web security firm F-Secure.

F-Secure's full write-up of the attack, including screenshots, can be found here. One of the comment threads about the assault on Reddit can be found here. ®

Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner

More from The Register

 breaking news
Number of cops abusing Police National Computer access on the rise
Only a telegram from the Queen can get you off it
 breaking news
NSA PRISM snoop-gate: Won't someone think of the children, wails Apple
10,000 things probed, mostly about missing kids, Alzheimer patients, we're told
Flash flaw potentially makes every webcam or laptop a PEEPHOLE
But it's a Google problem - Chrome only, insists Adobe
Internet fraud still stings suckers
Australians twice as gullible as Americans
 breaking news
NSA PRISM-gate: Relax, GCHQ spooks 'keep us safe', says Cameron
Whatever they are up to, it's all above board, we're told
 breaking news
Yahoo! joins! rivals! in! PRISM! data! request! admission!
Keep calm and carry on using American tech firms, folks
PRISM snitch claims NSA hacked Chinese targets since 2009
Snowden suddenly looks safer in Hong Kong after revelations
 breaking news
US chief spook: Look, we only want to spy on 6.66 BEELLLION of you
Americans assured they are not in the NSA's sights
Speech-to-text drives motorists to distraction
Will talking to you mean I crash into that car up ahead, Siri?
DHS warns of vulns in hospital medical equipment
Has your doctor's anasthesia machine been hacked?