CVE-2007-3541 in sHTTPd
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Kurinton sHTTPd 20070408 and earlier allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/05/2018
The cross-site scripting vulnerability identified as CVE-2007-3541 affects the Kurinton sHTTPd web server version 20070408 and earlier, representing a critical security flaw that enables remote attackers to execute malicious scripts within the context of victim browsers. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting, which is classified as a fundamental web application security weakness that occurs when an application incorporates untrusted data into web pages without proper validation or encoding. The affected sHTTPd server implementation fails to adequately sanitize user input across unspecified vectors, creating an attack surface where malicious actors can inject arbitrary web script or HTML content that gets executed by unsuspecting users.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability involves attackers crafting malicious payloads that are submitted to the vulnerable web server, which then processes and delivers these inputs to end users without sufficient sanitization measures. The unspecified vectors suggest that the vulnerability could potentially exist across multiple input points within the server's handling of HTTP requests, including but not limited to query parameters, form fields, or header values. This broad attack surface increases the likelihood of successful exploitation, as attackers can identify various entry points to inject malicious code that will be executed in the browser context of other users who access the compromised web application.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable attackers to perform session hijacking, steal sensitive user information, deface web pages, or redirect users to malicious sites. The remote nature of the attack means that exploitation does not require physical access to the target system, making it particularly dangerous for web applications that serve a large user base. Users who interact with the vulnerable web server may unknowingly execute malicious scripts that can compromise their browser sessions, steal cookies, or provide attackers with persistent access to user accounts. This vulnerability directly violates the principle of secure input validation and demonstrates a critical failure in the server's security architecture.
Organizations should implement comprehensive mitigation strategies including immediate patching of the affected sHTTPd versions to address the XSS vulnerability, along with the implementation of proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms. The solution involves configuring the web server to sanitize all user-provided input before processing or displaying it, utilizing established security frameworks and libraries that automatically encode special characters to prevent script execution. Additionally, implementing a Content Security Policy (CSP) header can provide an additional layer of protection by restricting the sources from which scripts can be loaded and executed, effectively limiting the damage that malicious scripts can cause even if they manage to bypass primary defenses. Security monitoring and regular vulnerability assessments should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in other web applications and infrastructure components, as this vulnerability represents a common pattern of insecure input handling that affects numerous web server implementations. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under the T1059.007 technique for 'Command and Scripting Interpreter: JavaScript' and T1566.001 for 'Phishing: Spearphishing Attachment', highlighting the broader attack vectors that can leverage such XSS flaws for initial access and privilege escalation within compromised environments.