CVE-2008-0867 in Plumtree Foundation
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in portal/server.pt in BEA AquaLogic Interaction 6.1 through MP1 and Plumtree Foundation 6.0 through SP1 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the name parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/31/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-0867 represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw affecting BEA AquaLogic Interaction 6.1 through MP1 and Plumtree Foundation 6.0 through SP1 platforms. This security weakness resides within the portal/server.pt component where user-supplied input is inadequately validated or sanitized before being rendered in web responses. The specific attack vector targets the name parameter which serves as an entry point for malicious actors to inject arbitrary web scripts or HTML content directly into the application's output streams.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which defines cross-site scripting as a code injection attack where malicious scripts are executed in the victim's browser context. The flaw occurs because the application fails to properly escape or encode user-provided data before incorporating it into dynamically generated web pages. This allows attackers to craft malicious payloads that when processed by the vulnerable application, get executed in the browsers of unsuspecting users who visit affected pages. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple data theft as it can enable session hijacking, defacement of web content, and redirection to malicious sites.
From an operational perspective, this XSS vulnerability creates significant risks for organizations utilizing affected BEA platforms as it provides attackers with persistent access to user sessions and sensitive data. The remote exploit capability means that attackers can leverage this vulnerability from anywhere on the internet without requiring physical access to the target network. The attack surface is particularly concerning given that the vulnerability affects core portal functionality where users frequently interact with web content, making successful exploitation likely to impact multiple users simultaneously. The vulnerability can be exploited to create persistent malicious content that affects all users of the affected portal systems.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should encompass multiple layers of protection aligned with industry best practices and frameworks such as the ATT&CK framework's defense evasion techniques. Organizations must implement comprehensive input validation and output encoding mechanisms to prevent malicious content from being executed in browser contexts. The recommended approach includes deploying web application firewalls that can detect and block XSS attack patterns, implementing proper content security policies, and ensuring all user inputs are properly sanitized before processing. Additionally, regular security assessments and code reviews should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in other application components. The remediation process should involve immediate patching of affected systems, followed by comprehensive testing to ensure that the fix does not introduce regressions in application functionality while maintaining the security posture against similar attack vectors.