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I reported an iframe vuln to two payroll startups. Were they right to shrug? (outsidetheboxmodel.com)
2 points by anulman 96 days ago
1 comments

Author here; live demos within.

The core issue: Stripe's Payment Intent pattern (server gets token → passes to client → client opens iframe) is safe because the blast radius is bounded; worst case, someone pays your invoice. But the same pattern applied to admin embeds (payroll, HR, financial controls) means a single XSS or compromised npm dependency can exfiltrate full admin access.

The fix I'm proposing (RequestRequest) routes every iframe API call through the host page for server-side JWT signing. The iframe never holds a persistent credential. There are three interactive demos in the post, including a real race condition demo against a Durable Object.

I disclosed this to two vendors in Jan 2024. Both classified it as informational. Neither has changed their architecture.

Clearly you've done a lot of work in this space--with LLMs this could be a serious threat to anyone using admin embeds.