CVE-2005-2884 in Land Down Under
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in events.php in Land Down Under (LDU) 801 and earlier allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the Description field in an event.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/09/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2005-2884 represents a classic cross-site scripting flaw within the Land Down Under (LDU) web application version 801 and earlier. This security weakness resides in the events.php script which processes event descriptions submitted by users. The vulnerability occurs when the application fails to properly sanitize user input before rendering it within web pages, creating an opportunity for malicious actors to execute arbitrary code in the context of other users' browsers.
This XSS vulnerability operates under CWE-79 which categorizes the weakness as "Cross-site Scripting" and specifically relates to the improper neutralization of input during web page generation. The attack vector is particularly dangerous as it targets the Description field of events, a common user input mechanism that would typically contain legitimate content. Attackers can craft malicious scripts within this field that get executed when other users view the event details, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or redirection to malicious sites.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution as it fundamentally undermines the trust model of the web application. When users interact with event descriptions, they unknowingly become victims of code injection attacks that can persistently compromise their browser sessions. The vulnerability affects all users of the LDU application who can view event descriptions, creating a broad attack surface that could be exploited to compromise user accounts, steal sensitive information, or manipulate the application's functionality. This type of vulnerability is particularly concerning in web applications where user-generated content is displayed without proper sanitization, as it represents a failure in the application's input validation and output encoding mechanisms.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2005-2884 should focus on implementing robust input validation and output encoding practices. The most effective approach involves sanitizing all user input before processing, particularly in fields that are rendered in web pages. This includes implementing proper HTML encoding of user-supplied data when displaying it in event descriptions and other user-generated content areas. Organizations should also consider implementing content security policies to prevent unauthorized script execution and utilize web application firewalls to detect and block malicious payloads. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of the principle of least privilege in web application security, where user input should never be trusted and must be properly validated and sanitized before any processing or display occurs. Additionally, regular security audits and code reviews should be conducted to identify similar input validation weaknesses that could lead to other types of injection attacks, aligning with the broader security principles outlined in the ATT&CK framework for web application exploitation techniques.