Individual skill
exploiting-xpath-injection
Exploiting XPath injection where applications build XPath/XQuery expressions from unsanitized user input to query XML documents, allowing authentication bypass and blind extraction of the entire XML document (users, passwords, schema) plus out-of-band exfiltration. Activates when login or search features query XML data stores via XPath.
internal/tools/skills/data/web-application-security/exploiting-xpath-injection/SKILL.md
Source commit d42f381ad34843e71a42658e5c57290c713e85af
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- Observed behavior
- Network or broad shell
- Last checked
- Nov 9, 2026
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- Repository stars (not skill ratings)
- 1,313
- Repository last updated
- Nov 8, 2026
- License
- Apache-2.0
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- cybersecurity Repository topic
- security Repository topic
- bug-bounty Repository topic
- automation Repository topic
- autonomous-pentesting Repository topic
- ai-agent Repository topic
- ai-security Repository topic
- ethical-hacking Repository topic
- golang Repository topic
- penetration-testing Repository topic
- penetration-testing Declared skill tag
- xpath-injection Declared skill tag
- xquery-injection Declared skill tag
- authentication-bypass Declared skill tag
- owasp Declared skill tag
- web-security Declared skill tag
- security Derived category
- data Derived category
- testing Derived category
- security-application Derived category
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# Exploiting XPath Injection
## When to Use
- During authorized tests where the app stores users/data in an XML file and queries it with XPath
[Credential-related source omitted]
- When you see XML-backed config, SOAP endpoints, or apps using `simplexml`, `DOMXPath`, `javax.xml.xpath`
- When error messages reference XPath, XQuery, or XML parsing
- When testing XPath 2.0+ engines that expose `doc()`, `unparsed-text()`, or `string-to-codepoints()`
## Critical: Variants Most Often Missed
In XPath there is no comment/terminator like SQL `--`, so payloads must keep the expression valid. Remember **`and` binds tighter than `or`**. Test this matrix on every field:
