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title: "Apple's Safari 4 also fixes cross-domain XML theft"
description: "Safari 4 fixed a cross-domain XML theft in which one origin could read another origin's XML: XHTML, AJAX RPC responses and authenticated feeds. The demo steals the XML of a logged-in Gmail user's inbox. The post argues that each new browser feature referencing content by URI is another chance for a missing cross-domain check."
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# Apple's Safari 4 also fixes cross-domain XML theft

**Apple's Safari 4 also fixes cross-domain XML theft** - Chris Evans, scarybeastsecurity.blogspot.com.

- Published: date not stated
- Original: <https://scarybeastsecurity.blogspot.com/2009/06/apples-safari-4-also-fixes-cross-domain.html>
- Preserved from: https://scarybeastsecurity.blogspot.com/2009/06/apples-safari-4-also-fixes-cross-domain.html (live) on 2026-08-10
- Licence: unknown

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## Content

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Security: Apple's Safari 4 also fixes cross-domain XML theft

###  Apple's Safari 4 also fixes cross-domain XML theft

 Safari 4 also fixes an interesting cross-domain XML theft. Full technical details live here:

[http://scary.beasts.org/security/CESA-2009-008.html](http://scary.beasts.org/security/CESA-2009-008.html)

XML theft can include highly sensitive data thanks to things like XHTML, AJAX-y RPCs using XML and authenticated RSS feeds. The example I have steals XML representing a logged-in Gmail user's inbox:

[Safari 3 demo for users logged in to Gmail](https://cevans-app.appspot.com/static/safaristealmailbug.xml)

I think there's a lot more room for browser-based cross-domain leaks (sometimes called UXSS or universal XSS). This is because the pace of new browser features is very high, and lots more functionality is being added that involves reference by URI. Every such addition is a possible vector for a missing or incorrect (e.g. [302 redirect tricks](http://scarybeastsecurity.blogspot.com/2008/11/firefox-cross-domain-image-theft-and.html)) cross-domain check; or even an ill-advised specification-based cross-domain leak.

*This is one of the serious Safari bugs demoed but not disclosed at my [PacSec](http://scarybeastsecurity.blogspot.com/2008/11/pacsec-presentation.html) and [HiTB Dubai](http://scarybeastsecurity.blogspot.com/2009/05/hitb-dubai-all-over-apart-from-blogging.html) presentations. I forgot to note that my [previous post on file theft was another](http://scarybeastsecurity.blogspot.com/2009/06/apples-safari-4-fixes-local-file-theft.html).*