CAPEC Definitions

    CAPEC Definitions / CAPEC-222

    CAPEC-222: iFrame Overlay

    In an iFrame overlay attack the victim is tricked into unknowingly initiating some action in one system while interacting with the UI from seemingly completely different system.

    Severity:High
    Possibility:Medium

    Extended Description

    While being logged in to some target system, the victim visits the adversarys' malicious site which displays a UI that the victim wishes to interact with. In reality, the iFrame overlay page has a transparent layer above the visible UI with action controls that the adversary wishes the victim to execute. The victim clicks on buttons or other UI elements they see on the page which actually triggers the action controls in the transparent overlaying layer. Depending on what that action control is, the adversary may have just tricked the victim into executing some potentially privileged (and most undesired) functionality in the target system to which the victim is authenticated. The basic problem here is that there is a dichotomy between what the victim thinks they are clicking on versus what they are actually clicking on.

    Mitigations

    Configuration: Disable iFrames in the Web browser.

    Operation: When maintaining an authenticated session with a privileged target system, do not use the same browser to navigate to unfamiliar sites to perform other activities. Finish working with the target system and logout first before proceeding to other tasks.

    Operation: If using the Firefox browser, use the NoScript plug-in that will help forbid iFrames.

    Relationships with other CAPECs

    CAPEC-103: Clickjacking

    Prerequisites

    The victim is communicating with the target application via a web based UI and not a thick client. The victim's browser security policies allow iFrames. The victim uses a modern browser that supports UI elements like clickable buttons (i.e. not using an old text only browser). The victim has an active session with the target system. The target system's interaction window is open in the victim's browser and supports the ability for initiating sensitive actions on behalf of the user in the target system.

    Related Weaknesses

    CWE-1021: Improper Restriction of Rendered UI Layers or Frames