CVE-2002-2115 in Hyper NIKKI System
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Hyper NIKKI System (HNS) Lite before 0.9 and HNS before 2.10-pl2 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/30/2025
The CVE-2002-2115 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw discovered in the Hyper NIKKI System (HNS) Lite version prior to 0.9 and the full HNS version before 2.10-pl2. This vulnerability falls under the Common Weakness Enumeration category CWE-79, which specifically addresses improper neutralization of input during web page generation, commonly known as cross-site scripting. The flaw allows remote attackers to inject malicious web scripts or HTML content into web applications, potentially compromising user sessions and data integrity.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output sanitization mechanisms within the HNS software architecture. When users interact with the web application, the system fails to properly sanitize user-supplied data before incorporating it into dynamically generated web pages. This oversight creates an opening for malicious actors to embed script tags or other HTML elements that execute in the context of other users' browsers. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it operates at the application layer, affecting the web interface directly without requiring any special privileges or access to underlying system resources.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft or defacement. Attackers can exploit this weakness to hijack user sessions, steal sensitive information, manipulate data within the application, or redirect users to malicious websites. The remote nature of the attack means that threat actors can exploit this vulnerability from anywhere on the internet without needing physical access to the target system. This makes the vulnerability particularly attractive to cybercriminals who seek to maximize their impact with minimal effort, potentially affecting multiple users simultaneously within the compromised application environment.
Organizations should implement comprehensive mitigation strategies that include input validation, output encoding, and regular security updates to address this vulnerability. The recommended approach involves deploying proper sanitization routines that filter or escape special characters in user inputs before they are processed or displayed in web interfaces. Additionally, implementing Content Security Policy headers and using secure coding practices can significantly reduce the risk of exploitation. According to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability maps to the T1059.008 technique involving scripting languages and the T1566.001 technique related to social engineering through malicious web content, highlighting the multi-faceted nature of the threat landscape. Organizations should prioritize updating to versions of HNS that have been patched against this vulnerability while also conducting thorough security assessments of their web applications to identify similar weaknesses in other components of their infrastructure.