a1d7c07c50f1d895337de121680ea672b261c058
max
  Mon Aug 17 02:26:36 2026 -0700
escape reflected/echoed user input across several CGIs (XSS), refs #38057

Route user-, DB- and hub-derived values through htmlEncode (HTML/attribute text),
cgiEncode (values composed into URLs), jsonStringEscape (values placed in a JS string
literal inside an inline script) or, for hgMirror, the existing mustBeClean sanitizer.
Covers hgHubConnect, hgUserSuggestion, hgLiftOver, hgBlat, hgc pubs, hgVisiGene,
hgSession, hgTrackUi, hgGenome, phyloPng, hgFileSearch, hgLinkIn, hgPal, hui,
hgPhyloPlace, hgMirror, hgCustom and hgSearch.

diff --git src/hg/hgFileSearch/hgFileSearch.c src/hg/hgFileSearch/hgFileSearch.c
index e59f0883f50..59d918f045e 100644
--- src/hg/hgFileSearch/hgFileSearch.c
+++ src/hg/hgFileSearch/hgFileSearch.c
@@ -227,31 +227,31 @@
        FILE_SEARCH_CURRENT_TAB, currentTab);
 printf("<div id='tabs' style='display:none; %s'>\n"
        "<ul>\n"
        "<li><a href='#simpleTab'><B style='font-size:.9em;font-family: arial, Geneva, "
        "Helvetica, san-serif;'>Search</B></a></li>\n"
        "<li><a href='#filesTab'><B style='font-size:.9em;font-family: arial, Geneva, "
        "Helvetica, san-serif;'>Files</B></a></li>\n"
        "</ul>\n",cgiBrowser()==btIE?"width:1060px;":"max-width:inherit;");
 
 // Files tab
 printf("<div id='simpleTab' style='max-width:inherit;'>\n");
 
 printf("<table id='simpleTable' style='width:100%%; font-size:.9em;'><tr><td colspan='2'>");
 printf("<input type='text' name='%s' id='simpleSearch' class='submitOnEnter' value='%s' "
        "style='max-width:1000px; width:100%%;'>\n",
-       TRACK_SEARCH_SIMPLE,descSearch == NULL ? "" : descSearch);
+       TRACK_SEARCH_SIMPLE,descSearch == NULL ? "" : htmlEncode(descSearch)); // search string into attr, escape (XSS)
 jsOnEventById("keyup", "simpleSearch", "findTracks.searchButtonsEnable(true);");
 
 printf("</td></tr><td style='max-height:4px;'></td></tr></table>");
 printf("<input type='submit' name='%s' id='searchSubmit' value='search' style='font-size:.8em;'>\n",
        FILE_SEARCH);
 printf("<input type='button' name='clear' id='clear' value='clear' class='clear' style='font-size:.8em;'>\n");
 jsOnEventById("click","clear","findTracks.clear();");
 printf("<input type='submit' name='submit' value='cancel' class='cancel' "
        "style='font-size:.8em;'>\n");
 printf("</div>\n");
 #endif///def USE_TABS
 
 // Files tab
 printf("<div id='filesTab' style='width:inherit;'>\n"
         "<table id='filesTable' cellSpacing=0 style='width:inherit; font-size:.9em;'>\n");