== Why is this an issue?

Validation is the first line of defense against injection, cross-site scripting, and many other attacks. Omitting it in modern web applications is simply negligent.


When creating a Struts ``++ActionForm++``, you have the choice of extending something from the ``++org.apache.struts.action++`` package, or extending something from the ``++org.apache.struts.validator++`` package. Since you can't use the Struts validator capabilities without extending something from the ``++validator++`` package, that should always be your choice. 


=== Noncompliant code example

[source,java]
----
public class MyForm extends org.apache.struts.action.ActionForm {  // Noncompliant
  // ...
----


=== Compliant solution

[source,java]
----
public class MyForm extends org.apache.struts.validator.ValidatorForm {
  // ...
----


== Resources

* OWASP - https://owasp.org/Top10/A03_2021-Injection/[Top 10 2021 Category A3 - Injection]
* OWASP - https://owasp.org/www-project-top-ten/2017/A1_2017-Injection[Top 10 2017 Category A1 - Injection]
* OWASP - https://owasp.org/www-project-top-ten/2017/A7_2017-Cross-Site_Scripting_(XSS)[Top 10 2017 Category A7 - Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)]
* CWE - https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/104[CWE-104 - Struts: Form Bean Does Not Extend Validation Class]



ifdef::env-github,rspecator-view[]

'''
== Implementation Specification
(visible only on this page)

=== Message

Extend a validator class instead of "xxx".


=== Highlighting

super class name


'''
== Comments And Links
(visible only on this page)

=== on 1 Dec 2015, 11:19:01 Michael Gumowski wrote:
LGTM!

endif::env-github,rspecator-view[]