Abstract

This action form mapping disables the form's validate() method.

Description

An action form mapping should never disable validation. Disabling validation disables the Struts Validator as well as any custom validation logic performed by the form.

Examples

An action form mapping that disables validation.

	<action path="/download"
		type="com.website.d2.action.DownloadAction"
		name="downloadForm"
		scope="request"
		input=".download"
		validate="false">
	</action>

Disabling validation exposes this action to numerous types of attacks. Unchecked input is the root cause of vulnerabilities like cross-site scripting, process control, and SQL injection. Although J2EE applications are not generally susceptible to memory corruption attacks, if a J2EE application interfaces with native code that does not perform array bounds checking, an attacker may be able to use an input validation mistake in the J2EE application to launch a buffer overflow attack.