Effect

Code that can control an ID or NAME can replace a member with DOM2 semantics with a completely different object.

Background

DOM Level 2 defines a set of members that DOM nodes, node lists, etc. must implement. Those members are relied on by code, so e.g. document.forms[0].elements.length is an integer describing the number of input elements in the first form on the page.

When an HtmlCollection contains a member with an ID or NAME, the collection has a member with that id or name.

Some browsers' DOM nodes' methods cannot be applied across instances ; document.createElement('FORM').reset.call(document.forms[0]) fails with an exception on IE. For properties that are not methods, there's no way to access the original version. On Firefox, the elements array cannot be accessed without a screen rerender since removing the input named elements does not unmask HTMLFormElements.elements right away.

Assumptions

Untrusted code can specify an ID or NAME that conflicts with a special member used by trusted code.

Versions

IE and Opera allows masking of length. Safari aliases IDs and NAMEs that look like array indices >= length. Firefox, Safari, and possibly others allow masking of properties and methods on an HTMLFormElement such as reset.

Example

    <form>
      <input name=length id=length>
      <input name=5 id=5>
      <input name=0 id=0>
      <input name=elements id=elements>
      <input name=reset id=reset>
    </form>