Question

Which of the following is also known as a "dot dot slash" attack?

1) Cross-site scripting (XSS)
2) SQL injection
3) Directory traversal
4) Cross-site request forgery (CSRF)

Answer 1

The "dot dot slash" attack refers to Directory traversal, where attackers manipulate variables to gain unauthorized file or directory access.

Step-by-step explanation:

The attack that is also known as a "dot dot slash" is Directory traversal. This type of security vulnerability occurs when an attacker exploits inadequate security measures on a web server to access restricted directories and files.

Directory traversal attacks involve manipulating variables that reference files with "dot-dot-slash (../)" sequences and their variations, allowing the attacker to move up the directory levels, hence gaining unauthorized access to system files or folders, which can lead to sensitive information disclosure or even system takeover.