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312-50V12 · Question #296

Which of the following web vulnerabilities would an attacker be attempting to exploit if they delivered the following input?

The correct answer is B. XXE. The input provided is characteristic of an attempt to exploit an XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability by defining and referencing an external entity within an XML document.

Submitted by cyberguy42· Mar 4, 2026Web Application Hacking

Question

Which of the following web vulnerabilities would an attacker be attempting to exploit if they delivered the following input?

Options

  • ASQLi
  • BXXE
  • CXXS
  • DIDOR

How the community answered

(33 responses)
  • B
    94% (31)
  • C
    3% (1)
  • D
    3% (1)

Why each option

The input provided is characteristic of an attempt to exploit an XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability by defining and referencing an external entity within an XML document.

ASQLi

SQLi (SQL Injection) involves injecting malicious SQL commands into data input fields to manipulate backend database queries, which is distinct from XML entity processing.

BXXECorrect

An XXE vulnerability occurs when an XML parser processes a specially crafted XML document containing an external entity declaration, such as `<!DOCTYPE foo [ <!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM "file:///etc/passwd"> ]>`. This allows an attacker to compel the parser to fetch content from local files or remote resources, potentially leading to information disclosure, Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF), or remote code execution.

CXXS

XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) involves injecting client-side scripts (typically JavaScript) into web pages to be executed in other users' browsers, not manipulating server-side XML parsers.

DIDOR

IDOR (Insecure Direct Object Reference) exploits involve manipulating direct references to internal implementation objects (e.g., user IDs in URLs) to access unauthorized resources, unrelated to XML parsing.

Concept tested: XML External Entity (XXE) exploitation

Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/xml/security-considerations-when-using-xml-data

Topics

#XXE#XML external entity#web application vulnerabilities#XML parsing

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