Introduction: In the world of web application security, the most devastating vulnerabilities often hide in plain sight. A recent real-world style code review challenge highlighted a critical oversight: a developer pushed a search feature to production that appeared functional but was secretly executing untrusted user input directly into the DOM. This article dissects how a seemingly innocuous search bar on the fictional RentEasy platform became a prime vector for Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), providing a step-by-step blueprint for identifying, exploiting, and mitigating this flaw.

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