CVE-2006-6180 in iNews Publisher
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in articles.asp in Expinion.net iNews Publisher (iNP) 2.5 and earlier allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the hl parameter. NOTE: The provenance of this information is unknown; the details are obtained solely from third party information.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/03/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2006-6180 represents a classic cross-site scripting flaw within the Expinion.net iNews Publisher version 2.5 and earlier systems. This type of vulnerability falls under the broader category of CWE-79 - Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation, which specifically addresses the failure to properly sanitize user input before incorporating it into web page content. The vulnerability exists in the articles.asp component of the iNews Publisher platform, making it a critical security weakness that could be exploited by malicious actors to compromise user sessions and potentially gain unauthorized access to sensitive information.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through the hl parameter within the articles.asp script, where user-supplied input is directly reflected in the web page output without adequate sanitization or encoding. This allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript code, HTML content, or other harmful scripts that will execute in the context of other users' browsers when they view the affected page. The vulnerability is classified as a stored XSS attack since the malicious content can be permanently stored on the server and then served to multiple users, or as a reflected XSS attack if the malicious input is immediately reflected back to the user's browser. The impact of such an attack extends beyond simple script execution, as it can lead to session hijacking, credential theft, and the potential for privilege escalation within the affected web application.
The operational impact of CVE-2006-6180 is significant for organizations utilizing the Expinion.net iNews Publisher platform, as it creates an attack surface that can be leveraged for various malicious activities. According to ATT&CK framework category T1531 - Use of Cloud Compute and Storage, attackers could potentially use this vulnerability to establish persistent access to the application and its underlying data. The vulnerability's presence in a content management system makes it particularly dangerous as it could allow attackers to modify published content, inject phishing pages, or redirect users to malicious websites. Additionally, the reflected nature of the vulnerability means that even a single compromised user could inadvertently trigger the attack, making it difficult to contain and trace.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should prioritize immediate patching of the affected iNews Publisher versions, as the original vendor would have likely released a security update addressing this specific flaw. Organizations should implement proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms to prevent user-supplied data from being interpreted as executable code. The implementation of Content Security Policy (CSP) headers can provide an additional layer of protection by restricting the sources from which scripts can be loaded. Furthermore, regular security assessments and web application firewalls should be deployed to monitor for and block suspicious requests that attempt to exploit similar vulnerabilities. According to industry best practices outlined in NIST Special Publication 800-171 and ISO/IEC 27001 standards, organizations must maintain robust input validation processes and conduct regular vulnerability assessments to prevent such security incidents from occurring. The remediation process should also include user education to prevent social engineering attacks that might leverage this vulnerability to deliver malicious payloads to unsuspecting users.