CVE-2008-1477 in eForum
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in busca.php in eForum 0.4 allow remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the (1) busca and (2) link parameters.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/20/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-1477 resides within the eForum 0.4 web application, specifically in the busca.php script which serves as a search functionality component. This issue represents a classic cross-site scripting vulnerability that fundamentally compromises the application's security posture by allowing malicious actors to inject arbitrary web scripts or HTML content into the application's response. The vulnerability affects the search parameters busca and link, which are processed without adequate input sanitization or output encoding mechanisms, creating exploitable entry points for attackers seeking to manipulate the application's behavior and potentially compromise user sessions or steal sensitive information.
The technical flaw manifests through improper handling of user-supplied input within the busca.php script where the busca and link parameters are directly incorporated into the application's output without sufficient validation or sanitization. This lack of input filtering creates a condition where an attacker can craft malicious payloads that, when processed by the vulnerable application, execute within the context of other users' browsers. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and specifically targets the web application's user interface rendering process, where untrusted data is seamlessly integrated into HTML output without proper context-aware encoding. According to CWE classification, this represents a CWE-79: Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability, which is categorized under the broader category of input validation and output encoding failures.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script injection, as it can enable attackers to perform session hijacking, steal user credentials, redirect victims to malicious websites, or even execute arbitrary commands on affected systems. When users interact with the vulnerable search functionality, any malicious script injected through the busca or link parameters will execute in the victim's browser context, potentially leading to complete compromise of user sessions and unauthorized access to sensitive data. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it operates silently in the background, allowing attackers to maintain persistent access to user accounts without detection. From an attack framework perspective, this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001: Phishing, where the malicious script injection serves as a delivery mechanism for further attacks, and T1059.001: Command and Scripting Interpreter, where the injected scripts can execute commands on behalf of the victim.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate implementation of proper input validation and output encoding measures. The primary solution involves sanitizing all user-supplied input through strict validation mechanisms that reject or escape potentially dangerous characters and patterns before processing. Additionally, implementing proper output encoding for all dynamic content ensures that any injected script characters are rendered harmless when displayed to users. The application should employ context-aware encoding techniques that adapt the encoding method based on the output context such as HTML, JavaScript, or URL contexts. Organizations should also consider implementing a Content Security Policy (CSP) header to provide an additional layer of protection against script injection attacks. Regular security assessments and code reviews should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in other application components, while also ensuring that the eForum 0.4 application is updated to a patched version that addresses these XSS vulnerabilities. The remediation process should follow the principle of least privilege by ensuring that the application only processes necessary parameters and validates all inputs against whitelisted character sets to prevent future occurrences of similar issues.