A recent study by cybersecurity firm KomodoSec has shed light on critical vulnerabilities present in the HTML to PDF export functionalities of web applications, particularly those prevalent in the medical sector. The research brings attention to the perilous threat posed by Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerabilities, empowering cyber attackers to manipulate web applications into sending unauthorized requests. Such exploits can result in unauthorized access to sensitive data, data breaches, and potentially catastrophic system compromises. KomodoSec’s investigation, initiated with an analysis of a medical platform’s utilization of server-side PDF generation tools, unveiled the susceptibility of these tools to exploitation through injection of malicious JavaScript or HTML into the content being converted.
This discovery underscores the urgent need for proactive measures to mitigate the risk of SSRF attacks, including transitioning to client-side PDF generation, implementing rigorous input validation protocols, and establishing whitelists for permissible URLs or domains during the conversion process. Additionally, the firm advocates for continuous security assessments and developer training to bolster defenses against emerging cyber threats and safeguard web applications against sophisticated attack methodologies.
