CVE-2005-4672 in Simple Image Editor
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in image-editor-52/index.php in CityPost Simple Image-Editor 0.52 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the (1) m1, (2) m2, (3) m3, (4) imgsrc, and (5) m4 parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/01/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2005-4672 represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within the CityPost Simple Image-Editor version 0.52 web application. This security weakness resides in the image-editor-52/index.php file and demonstrates a classic input validation failure that enables malicious actors to execute arbitrary web scripts within the context of affected user browsers. The vulnerability specifically affects five distinct parameters including m1, m2, m3, imgsrc, and m4, making it particularly dangerous as attackers can target multiple entry points to inject malicious code.
From a technical perspective, this vulnerability operates under the Common Weakness Enumeration classification of CWE-79, which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws in web applications. The flaw occurs when user-supplied input from these parameters is directly incorporated into web page output without proper sanitization or encoding mechanisms. When an attacker crafts malicious payloads and submits them through any of these five vulnerable parameters, the application fails to validate or escape the input before rendering it in the browser context. This allows attackers to inject HTML tags, JavaScript code, or other malicious content that executes in the victim's browser session.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script injection, as it can enable attackers to perform various malicious activities including session hijacking, credential theft, defacement of web pages, and redirection to malicious sites. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can potentially steal user session cookies, gain unauthorized access to user accounts, or manipulate the application's functionality to serve malicious content to other users. The vulnerability's presence in an image editing tool makes it particularly concerning since it may be used in environments where users trust the application's interface, increasing the likelihood of successful social engineering attacks.
Security practitioners should consider this vulnerability in the context of the ATT&CK framework under the technique of T1059.007 for Command and Scripting Interpreter: JavaScript, as well as T1566 for Phishing and T1531 for Account Access. The mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should include immediate input validation and output encoding of all user-supplied parameters. Implementing proper parameter sanitization, using context-specific encoding for HTML, JavaScript, and URL contexts, and deploying web application firewalls can effectively prevent exploitation. Additionally, the application should be updated to a patched version or replaced with a more secure alternative, as the vulnerability affects an older version of the software that likely lacks modern security protections and regular updates. Organizations should also implement comprehensive security testing procedures including dynamic application security testing and manual code reviews to identify similar vulnerabilities in other web applications within their infrastructure.