CVE-2006-5190 in osCommerce
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in osCommerce 2.2 Milestone 2 Update 060817 allow remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the (1) page parameter in the (a) banner_manager.php, (b) banner_statistics.php, (c) countries.php, (d) currencies.php, (e) languages.php, (f) manufacturers.php, (g) newsletters.php, (h) orders_status.php, (i) products_attributes.php, (j) products_expected.php, (k) reviews.php, (l) specials.php, (m) stats_products_purchased.php, (n) stats_products_viewed.php, (o) tax_classes.php, (p) tax_rates.php, or (q) zones.php scripts in /admin, and the (2) zpage parameter in (r) admin/geo_zones.php.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/23/2026
The CVE-2006-5190 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw affecting osCommerce 2.2 Milestone 2 Update 060817 administration interface. This vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and sanitization within multiple administrative scripts, creating a persistent security weakness that allows remote attackers to execute malicious scripts in the context of authenticated admin sessions. The flaw specifically manifests in the handling of user-supplied parameters within the administrative control panel, where unfiltered input directly translates into executable code within the browser environment. The vulnerability impacts a comprehensive set of administrative scripts including banner management, statistics reporting, tax configuration, and product catalog management functions, making it particularly dangerous due to the elevated privileges associated with administrative access. This weakness directly aligns with CWE-79, which categorizes cross-site scripting vulnerabilities as a primary concern for web application security, specifically targeting the injection of malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs through the improper handling of page parameters in various administrative PHP scripts located in the /admin directory. When administrators navigate through different sections of the osCommerce admin interface, the application fails to properly sanitize or escape input values passed through the page parameter, allowing attackers to inject malicious JavaScript code that executes in the browser of any user who views the affected pages. The zpage parameter in the geo_zones.php script presents a similar weakness, where the vulnerability extends beyond basic page navigation to include geographic zone configuration management. These flaws demonstrate a fundamental lack of input validation practices within the application's security architecture, creating persistent attack vectors that can be exploited by malicious actors with minimal technical expertise. The vulnerability's impact is amplified by the fact that administrative users typically possess elevated privileges and access to sensitive system information, making successful exploitation potentially devastating for the entire e-commerce platform.
The operational impact of CVE-2006-5190 extends far beyond simple script injection, as it enables attackers to compromise the administrative interface and potentially gain complete control over the osCommerce installation. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to steal administrative session cookies, redirect users to malicious websites, modify product listings, manipulate inventory data, or even inject backdoors into the system. The vulnerability's widespread nature across multiple administrative scripts increases the attack surface significantly, as any of the affected pages could serve as an entry point for more sophisticated attacks. The presence of this vulnerability in the core administrative functionality means that even a single successful exploitation attempt could provide attackers with access to sensitive customer data, financial information, and system configuration details. This weakness fundamentally undermines the trust model of the application and creates opportunities for data exfiltration, service disruption, and potential lateral movement within network environments where osCommerce systems are deployed.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2006-5190 should focus on immediate input validation and output encoding measures that align with established security best practices and ATT&CK framework recommendations for web application defenses. Organizations should implement comprehensive parameter validation across all administrative scripts, ensuring that input values are properly sanitized before being processed or displayed in web responses. The recommended approach involves implementing strict input filtering mechanisms that reject or escape potentially dangerous characters and patterns commonly associated with XSS attacks, including angle brackets, script tags, and various encoding sequences. Additionally, the application should employ proper output encoding techniques when displaying user-supplied data, ensuring that any potentially malicious content is rendered harmless through appropriate HTML entity encoding. Security patches should be applied immediately to update the osCommerce installation to a version that addresses this vulnerability, as the original vulnerable codebase represents a known security weakness that has been documented and exploited in the wild. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls and additional security monitoring to detect and prevent exploitation attempts, while ensuring that administrative access is protected through strong authentication mechanisms and regular security audits to identify similar vulnerabilities in other components of the application stack.