CVE-2006-1196 in QwikiWiki
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in QwikiWiki 1.5 allow remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the (1) from and (2) help parameters to (a) index.php; (3) action, (4) page, (5) debug, (6) help, (7) username, or (8) password parameters to (b) login.php; the (7) help parameter to (c) pageindex.php; or (8) help parameter to (d) recentchanges.php.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/21/2018
The CVE-2006-1196 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw in QwikiWiki version 1.5 that exposes multiple entry points for remote attackers to execute malicious web scripts within the context of affected user sessions. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting, which is classified as a fundamental web application security weakness that allows attackers to inject client-side scripts into web pages viewed by other users. The vulnerability specifically affects the QwikiWiki content management system, a wiki platform that was widely used for collaborative document editing and knowledge management in enterprise and organizational environments during the mid-2000s.
The technical flaw manifests through insufficient input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the web application's parameter handling routines. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by injecting malicious script code through various parameters across different endpoints including index.php, login.php, pageindex.php, and recentchanges.php. The vulnerability affects parameters such as from, help, action, page, debug, username, password, and others that are processed without proper sanitization or encoding before being rendered in web responses. This lack of input sanitization creates an environment where attacker-controlled data can be executed as JavaScript code within the victim's browser context, effectively bypassing normal security restrictions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe as it enables attackers to perform session hijacking, defacement of wiki content, data theft, and unauthorized modifications to the wiki environment. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can execute malicious scripts that may steal session cookies, redirect users to phishing sites, modify wiki content, or even escalate privileges within the wiki system. The vulnerability's broad scope across multiple PHP endpoints increases the attack surface and makes it particularly dangerous for organizations relying on QwikiWiki for collaborative workspaces. According to ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability maps to T1059.007 (Command and Scripting Interpreter: JavaScript) and T1566 (Phishing) as attackers can leverage the XSS to create convincing phishing attacks or manipulate user sessions.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2006-1196 should focus on implementing proper input validation and output encoding across all user-controllable parameters. Organizations should ensure that all parameters received by the web application are properly sanitized before being rendered in HTML output, with special characters being encoded using appropriate HTML entity encoding. The recommended approach includes implementing a whitelist-based input validation system that only accepts known good values for each parameter, combined with proper output encoding for any data that must be displayed to users. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to prevent execution of unauthorized scripts, and regular security audits should be conducted to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities in other web applications. The vulnerability highlights the critical importance of input validation in web applications and demonstrates how seemingly simple parameter handling can create significant security risks that persist across multiple application endpoints.