[muldvarp]

> so all it takes is a little injected script

If you can inject javascript, it's game over anyway.

> HTTPOnly cookies are safe from XSS attacks.

No, you can still do pretty much anything that cookie enables you to do. You just can't get the actual cookie string.

[7sidedmarble]

> If you can inject javascript, it's game over anyway.

Yeah, but as you pointed out the one thing you can't do is get the cookie. Having the auth token yourself as the attacker is a way different story then just having XSS vulnerabilities. You can still "do" a lot, but you still have to get another user with the token you want to interact with the page with your XSS to "do" what you want.

[muldvarp]

> You can still "do" a lot, but you still have to get another user with the token you want to interact with the page with your XSS to "do" what you want.

You need to do this in both cases.

[inbx0]

Then again, why bother with the tokens if you have XSS access as an attacker? I'd simply show the user a login prompt and take their password when they type it in.