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String buildUrl(String q) {
  //user inputs the argument "#YOLO2018"
  String url = "https://example.com?query=" + q;
 
  return url;
}

For example, if the user supplies the input string "#YOLO2018<#catgifs>", the url returned is "https://example.com?query=#YOLO2018<#catgifs>" which is not a valid URL.

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String buildEncodedUrl(String q) {
    String origUrlencodedUrl = "https://example.com?query=" + q;
    String encodedUrl = Base64.getUrlEncoder().encodeToString(origUrlq.getBytes());
 
    return encodedUrl;
}

If the user supplies the input string "#YOLO2018<#catgifs>", the url returned is "https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%3Fquery%3D%23YOLO2018https://example.com?query=%3C%23catgifs%3E" which is a valid URL.

Applicability

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Related Vulnerabilities

The Apache GERONIMO-1474 vulnerability, reported in January 2006, allowed attackers to submit URLs containing JavaScript. The Web Access Log Viewer failed to sanitize the data it forwarded to the administrator console, thereby enabling a classic XSS attack.

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