XSS
n.n. Stands for Cross-Site Scripting. A type of computer attack where a hacker puts a hidden, harmful script into a website that other people visit. This lets the hacker steal information like passwords or cookies from the people using that site.
n. Abbreviation for Cross-Site Scripting. A security vulnerability in web applications that allows an attacker to inject malicious client-side scripts into web pages viewed by other users. This bypasses the same-origin policy to steal session data, cookies, or sensitive user information.
The website was vulnerable to an XSS attack.
The security team patched the comment section to prevent XSS vulnerabilities that could compromise user accounts.
By failing to sanitize user input before rendering it in the browser, the application inadvertently facilitated a stored XSS attack that targeted every visitor to the profile page.
An initialism for cross-site scripting. The abbreviation XSS is used rather than CSS to avoid confusion with the pre-existing web technology Cascading Style Sheets.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Often used as a modifier before nouns like 'attack', 'vulnerability', or 'exploit'.
Last updated July 22, 2026