From 29f0c0607ad3d25491f4c4a6ca19b463610ae92d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: René Kijewski <kijewski@library.vetmed.fu-berlin.de>
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2022 15:32:37 +0100
Subject: Make json filter safe

Previously the built-in json filter had an issue that made it unsafe to
use in HTML data. When used in HTML attributes an attacker who is able
to supply an arbitrary string that should be JSON encoded could close
the containing HTML element e.g. with `"</div>"`, and write arbitrary
HTML code afterwards as long as they use apostrophes instead of
quotation marks. The programmer could make this use case safe by
explicitly escaping the JSON result: `{{data|json|escape}}`.

In a `<script>` context the json filter was not usable at all, because
in scripts HTML escaped entities are not parsed outside of XHTML
documents. Without using the safe filter an attacker could close the
current script using `"</script>"`.

This PR fixes the problem by always escaping less-than, greater-than,
ampersand, and apostrophe characters using their JSON unicode escape
sequence `\u00xx`. Unless the programmer explicitly uses the safe
filter, quotation marks are HTML encoded as `&quot`. In scripts the
programmer should use the safe filter, otherwise not.
---
 book/src/filters.md | 72 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------------
 1 file changed, 47 insertions(+), 25 deletions(-)

(limited to 'book')

diff --git a/book/src/filters.md b/book/src/filters.md
index d00d778..c24a94c 100644
--- a/book/src/filters.md
+++ b/book/src/filters.md
@@ -287,6 +287,53 @@ Output:
 5
 ```
 
+## Optional / feature gated filters
+
+The following filters can be enabled by requesting the respective feature in the Cargo.toml
+[dependencies section](https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/specifying-dependencies.html), e.g.
+
+```
+[dependencies]
+askama = { version = "0.11.0", features = "serde-json" }
+```
+
+### `json` | `tojson`
+
+Enabling the `serde-json` feature will enable the use of the `json` filter.
+This will output formatted JSON for any value that implements the required
+[`Serialize`](https://docs.rs/serde/1.*/serde/trait.Serialize.html) trait.
+The generated string does not contain ampersands `&`, chevrons `< >`, or apostrophes `'`.
+
+To use it in a `<script>` you can combine it with the safe filter.
+In HTML attributes, you can either use it in quotation marks `"{{data|json}}"` as is,
+or in apostrophes with the (optional) safe filter `'{{data|json|safe}}'`.
+In HTML texts the output of e.g. `<pre>{{data|json|safe}}</pre>` is safe, too.
+
+```
+Good: <li data-extra="{{data|json}}">…</li>
+Good: <li data-extra='{{data|json|safe}}'>…</li>
+Good: <pre>{{data|json|safe}}</pre>
+Good: <script>var data = {{data|json|safe}};</script>
+
+Bad:  <li data-extra="{{data|json|safe}}">…</li>
+Bad:  <script>var data = {{data|json}};</script>
+Bad:  <script>var data = "{{data|json|safe}}";</script>
+
+Ugly: <script>var data = "{{data|json}}";</script>
+Ugly: <script>var data = '{{data|json|safe}}';</script>
+```
+
+### `yaml`
+
+Enabling the `serde-yaml` feature will enable the use of the `yaml` filter.
+This will output formatted YAML for any value that implements the required
+[`Serialize`](https://docs.rs/serde/1.*/serde/trait.Serialize.html) trait.
+
+```jinja
+{{ foo|yaml }}
+```
+
+
 ## Custom Filters
 
 To define your own filters, simply have a module named filters in scope of the context deriving a `Template` impl.
@@ -311,28 +358,3 @@ fn main() {
     assert_eq!(t.render().unwrap(), "faa");
 }
 ```
-
-## The `json` filter
-
-Enabling the `serde-json` feature will enable the use of the `json` filter.
-This will output formatted JSON for any value that implements the required
-`Serialize` trait.
-
-```jinja
-{
-  "foo": "{{ foo }}",
-  "bar": {{ bar|json }}
-}
-```
-
-For compatibility with Jinja, `tojson` can be used in place of `json`.
-
-## The `yaml` filter
-
-Enabling the `serde-yaml` feature will enable the use of the `yaml` filter.
-This will output formatted JSON for any value that implements the required
-`Serialize` trait.
-
-```
-{{ foo|yaml }}
-```
-- 
cgit