CVE-2006-1293 in Contrexx
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in index.php in Contrexx CMS 1.0.8 and earlier allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the query string (PHP_SELF).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/21/2018
The vulnerability described in CVE-2006-1293 represents a classic cross-site scripting flaw that was prevalent in web applications during the mid-2000s era. This particular weakness existed within Contrexx CMS version 1.0.8 and earlier releases, where the application failed to properly sanitize user input before incorporating it into web page responses. The vulnerability specifically manifested in the index.php file when processing the PHP_SELF variable through the query string parameter, creating an exploitable condition that could be leveraged by remote attackers to execute malicious scripts within the context of other users' browsers.
The technical nature of this flaw aligns with CWE-79, which categorizes cross-site scripting vulnerabilities as weaknesses that allow attackers to inject malicious code into web applications. The vulnerability exploited the fact that the CMS did not adequately validate or escape user-supplied input that was directly reflected back to users without proper sanitization mechanisms. When an attacker crafted a malicious query string containing script tags or other HTML content and passed it through the PHP_SELF parameter, the application would render this unfiltered input as part of the web page response, thereby executing the injected code in the victim's browser context. This type of vulnerability falls under the ATT&CK technique T1566.001 which describes the use of web shell injection as a method for executing malicious code.
The operational impact of this vulnerability was significant as it provided attackers with the ability to perform various malicious activities including session hijacking, credential theft, data exfiltration, and redirection to malicious sites. An attacker could craft payloads that would steal cookies, redirect users to phishing pages, or even execute more sophisticated attacks such as defacement of the website content. The remote nature of the attack meant that exploitation could occur from anywhere on the internet without requiring physical access to the target system. The vulnerability was particularly dangerous because it affected the core CMS functionality, potentially compromising the entire website's security posture and making it possible for attackers to establish persistent access or cause widespread disruption.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability required immediate patching of the Contrexx CMS to version 1.0.9 or later, which included proper input sanitization and output encoding mechanisms. Organizations should have implemented proper input validation to ensure that all user-supplied data was properly escaped before being rendered in web pages. The recommended approach involved implementing proper HTML entity encoding for all dynamic content and employing a whitelist-based validation approach for parameters. Additionally, security measures such as content security policies and regular security audits would have helped prevent similar vulnerabilities from being exploited. The vulnerability also highlighted the importance of following secure coding practices and adhering to the principle of least privilege in web application development to prevent such injection-based attacks from occurring in the first place.