While enumerating a target's web server, you issue an HTTP TRACE request and receive a 200 OK response that reflects all request headers back to you. From a web-server security perspective, which vulnerability does this behavior expose and what broad mitigation should you recommend to the administrator?
It demonstrates a server-side request forgery weakness, so stricter input validation on URL parameters is required.
It shows susceptibility to HTTP response splitting attacks, so output filtering modules must be enabled.
It confirms that directory listing is active, so auto-indexing must be turned off.
The enabled TRACE verb permits Cross-Site Tracing, so the TRACE method should be disabled or blocked in the web-server configuration.
A successful HTTP TRACE request means the server will echo back the client's original request, including any cookies or authentication headers. Attackers can combine this with a cross-site scripting vector to launch Cross-Site Tracing (XST) attacks, stealing session tokens or other sensitive data. The standard defense is to disable or strictly limit the TRACE method at the web-server configuration level (for example, the Apache directive TraceEnable off or the IIS TRACE verb removal). Directory listing, HTTP response splitting, and server-side request forgery are unrelated to the TRACE method and require different countermeasures.
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What is the HTTP TRACE method, and why is it used?
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What are Cross-Site Tracing (XST) attacks, and how does the TRACE method enable them?
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How can administrators disable the TRACE method on web servers, and why should they do so?
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