CVE-2006-0524 in PHP Ashnews
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in ashnews.php in Derek Ashauer ashNews 0.83 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the id parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/07/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2006-0524 represents a classic cross-site scripting flaw in the ashNews 0.83 content management system developed by Derek Ashauer. This security weakness resides within the ashnews.php script where user input is not properly sanitized before being rendered back to web browsers. The specific vector of attack occurs through the id parameter which serves as an entry point for malicious actors to inject harmful scripts or HTML code into the application's output. This type of vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting, which is one of the most prevalent and well-documented web application security flaws in the industry.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the application's failure to validate or escape user-supplied input before incorporating it into dynamically generated web content. When the id parameter is passed to ashnews.php without proper sanitization measures, the system directly incorporates this unvalidated data into HTML output streams. This creates an environment where attackers can craft malicious payloads that execute within the context of other users' browsers when they view the affected content. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it allows for arbitrary script execution, potentially enabling attackers to steal session cookies, perform unauthorized actions on behalf of users, or redirect victims to malicious websites.
From an operational perspective, this XSS vulnerability poses significant risks to organizations utilizing the ashNews 0.83 system. The impact extends beyond simple data theft to encompass potential account compromise, privilege escalation, and persistent malicious presence on the affected web application. Attackers could leverage this vulnerability to establish persistent backdoors, modify content, or perform actions that appear to originate from legitimate users. The attack surface is particularly concerning because it operates at the application layer, targeting end-user browsers directly rather than attempting to exploit server-side weaknesses. This aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001 for Initial Access through Web Protocols, where adversaries establish footholds through web-based attack vectors.
The mitigation strategies for CVE-2006-0524 must address both immediate remediation and long-term security hardening. The most effective immediate solution involves implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms to ensure that all user-supplied data is sanitized before being processed or displayed. This includes applying HTML entity encoding to any data that will be rendered in web contexts, as well as implementing strict input validation that rejects or removes potentially dangerous characters and script tags. Organizations should also consider implementing Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to provide an additional layer of protection against script injection attacks. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of input sanitization practices and highlights why defensive coding techniques such as parameterized queries and proper output encoding should be standard components of all web application development processes, as recommended by OWASP Top 10 security guidelines.