B701: jinja2_autoescape_false

B701: Test for not auto escaping in jinja2

Jinja2 is a Python HTML templating system. It is typically used to build web applications, though appears in other places well, notably the Ansible automation system. When configuring the Jinja2 environment, the option to use autoescaping on input can be specified. When autoescaping is enabled, Jinja2 will filter input strings to escape any HTML content submitted via template variables. Without escaping HTML input the application becomes vulnerable to Cross Site Scripting (XSS) attacks.

Unfortunately, autoescaping is False by default. Thus this plugin test will warn on omission of an autoescape setting, as well as an explicit setting of false. A HIGH severity warning is generated in either of these scenarios.

Example:

>> Issue: Using jinja2 templates with autoescape=False is dangerous and can
lead to XSS. Use autoescape=True to mitigate XSS vulnerabilities.
   Severity: High   Confidence: High
   Location: ./examples/jinja2_templating.py:11
10  templateEnv = jinja2.Environment(autoescape=False,
    loader=templateLoader)
11  Environment(loader=templateLoader,
12              load=templateLoader,
13              autoescape=False)
14

>> Issue: By default, jinja2 sets autoescape to False. Consider using
autoescape=True to mitigate XSS vulnerabilities.
   Severity: High   Confidence: High
   Location: ./examples/jinja2_templating.py:15
14
15  Environment(loader=templateLoader,
16              load=templateLoader)
17

See also

• OWASP XSS
• https://realpython.com/blog/python/primer-on-jinja-templating/
• http://jinja.pocoo.org/docs/dev/api/#autoescaping
• https://security.openstack.org
• https://security.openstack.org/guidelines/dg_cross-site-scripting-xss.html

New in version 0.10.0.