CVE-2006-1418 in E-School Management System
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in default.asp in Caloris Planitia E-School Management System 1.0 and earlier allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the msg parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/26/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2006-1418 represents a classic cross-site scripting flaw within the Caloris Planitia E-School Management System version 1.0 and earlier releases. This security weakness resides in the default.asp script which fails to properly sanitize user input before incorporating it into web responses. The vulnerability specifically affects the msg parameter, which serves as an entry point for malicious actors to inject arbitrary web scripts or HTML content into the application's output. Such a flaw fundamentally compromises the application's ability to distinguish between legitimate user content and potentially harmful code that could be executed in the context of other users' browsers.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-79, which defines cross-site scripting as a weakness where untrusted data is incorporated into web pages without proper validation or escaping mechanisms. This particular implementation flaw demonstrates how insufficient input sanitization can create persistent security risks within web applications. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by crafting malicious payloads that contain script tags or other HTML elements and passing them through the msg parameter. When the vulnerable application processes and displays this input without appropriate encoding or validation, the injected code executes within the victim's browser session, potentially leading to session hijacking, data theft, or further exploitation of the compromised user's privileges.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script injection, as it provides attackers with a vector for more sophisticated attacks within the educational management system's environment. Since this is a school management system, the compromised environment could contain sensitive student information, academic records, and administrative data. The attack surface becomes particularly concerning given that educational institutions often have less robust security monitoring compared to enterprise environments. Successful exploitation could enable attackers to impersonate legitimate users, access restricted areas of the system, or even redirect users to malicious sites that could harvest credentials or deploy additional malware. The remote nature of this attack means that threat actors do not require physical access to the system or local network privileges to exploit this vulnerability, making it particularly dangerous for organizations with remote access capabilities.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2006-1418 should focus on implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms throughout the application. The most effective immediate solution involves sanitizing all user-supplied input, particularly the msg parameter, by implementing strict validation rules that reject or escape potentially dangerous characters and script tags. Organizations should also implement Content Security Policy headers to limit the sources from which scripts can be executed within the application context. Additionally, the system administrators should consider upgrading to newer versions of the E-School Management System where this vulnerability has been addressed through proper input handling mechanisms. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in other components of the educational management infrastructure, as this vulnerability demonstrates how basic input validation flaws can create significant security risks within web applications. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this type of vulnerability under T1059.001 for command and scripting interpreter, as the exploitation involves injecting executable code into web applications through user input parameters.