In website operation, ensure that the URL parameters on the front-end page are correctly escaped. This is not just a technical detail, but also the foundation of website security, SEO performance, and user experience.AnQiCMS (AnQiCMS) is an efficient enterprise-level content management system that provides many conveniences and built-in security mechanisms in URL processing, but as a content operator, we still need to understand how to verify whether these dynamically generated URL parameters are truly safe.
Why is URL escaping so important?
Imagine if your website URL contains unprocessed special characters, such as a search term with&/</>/"or', this might lead to a series of issues:
- Security risks:The most direct threat is cross-site scripting (XSS).Malicious users may inject unescaped special characters to plant malicious scripts in URLs, thereby stealing user information or tampering with page content.
- SEO performance:Search engine spiders strictly follow URL standards when crawling and indexing websites.An invalid URL may cause the page to be incorrectly fetched, affecting the ranking of the website in search results.
- User Experience:The browser may not be able to correctly parse URLs containing unescaped characters, leading to broken links, incorrect page display, and even giving users an unprofessional impression.
AutoCMS is committed to providing a secure website environment, and its features such as pseudo-static and multi-language support all take into account the standardization of URLs.When the content is dynamically generated and involves user input, we also need to be more meticulous in our checks.
Common dynamic URL parameter scenarios in Anqi CMS
There are several places where dynamic URL parameters are often encountered in Anqi CMS:
- Search results page:Users submit keywords through the search box on the website front end, generating such
/search?q=关键词URL. This is where theqparameter value is dynamic. - Pagination links:When the list content is too long, the pagination feature will generate links such as
/list-1-2.html(SEO-friendly) or/category-1?page=2(Dynamic parameters) links. Here, the page numberpageis dynamic. - Content filter:If you use the document parameter filtering feature, such as filtering content by region or price, it will generate such
/products?region=北京&price=100-500URL. This is where theregionandpriceThey are all dynamic parameters. - Tag link:When the Tag label is clicked, the system will generate a link to the associated document list of the Tag, such as
/tag/golang-cms.htmlAlthough it is usually pseudo-static, if the Tag name contains special characters, the alias generation also needs attention. - Custom URL alias:English CMS allows to set custom URL aliases for articles, categories, single pages, etc. (such as
{filename}/{catname}）。These aliases are configured in the background, but if content operators include special characters when filling in the information, the system needs to handle them correctly.
How to verify if dynamic URL parameters are correctly escaped?
To verify if URL parameter escaping is correct, we can approach it from the following aspects:
Step 1: Use the browser developer tools for direct inspection
This is the most direct and effective method.
Access dynamic pages:Open your safety CMS website, navigate to a page that contains dynamic URL parameters, such as search result pages, list pages with filtering conditions, or pagination pages.
Check the link attributes:Find a related link on the page (usually)
<a>right-click it, and select “Inspect Element”.)Observe
hrefProperties:In the developer tools, you will see the<a>HTML code of the tag. Please check ithrefthe value of the attribute.- key checkpoints:
- Spaces:Spaces in URLs are usually encoded as
%20or+. - Special character:
&Symbols should be encoded as:&(if it is displayed in the HTML context) or remain in the URL query string.&(But if it is part of the parameter value, it may itself be encoded as%26）。Other symbols such as</>/"/'should be encoded in URLs (for example%3C/%3E/%22/%27). - Chinese characters:The Chinese characters are usually encoded as URL
%xx%yyformat.
- Spaces:Spaces in URLs are usually encoded as
If the special characters in the URL are not correctly encoded, there may be an escaping issue.
- key checkpoints:
第二步：主动进行“破坏性”测试
通过故意输入一些可能导致问题的特殊字符，来测试系统的转义能力。
- 尝试搜索或筛选：Enter a combination containing special characters in the search box on the website or any field that allows users to input dynamic parameters, for example:
test&<>"'/你好 世界产品10% offprice=100¤cy=USD
- Submit and observe:Submit your input and then observe the URL generated in the browser address bar.
- Check the subsequent link:On the new results page, use the browser developer tools again to check the pagination links, other filter condition links, and other dynamically generated URLs to see if they are correctly escaped with the special characters you entered.
If your input is displayed exactly in the URL or causes a link to break, it usually means there is an escaping defect.
Step 3: Review the URL construction logic in the template code
The AnQi CMS uses a syntax similar to the Django template engine. Although the system has built-initem.LinkVariables are typically preprocessed and escaped, but in some custom templates, you may need to manually construct URLs.
- Prefer using built-in system variables:When you need to display a link to an article, category, or single page in a template, you should prioritize using
{{ item.Link }}such a system-built