CVE-2008-2037 in EsContacts
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in EditeurScripts EsContacts 1.0 allow remote authenticated users to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the msg parameter to (1) login.php, (2) importer.php, (3) add_groupe.php, (4) contacts.php, (5) groupes.php, and (6) search.php.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/14/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-2037 represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw affecting EditeurScripts EsContacts version 1.0, a web-based contact management application. This vulnerability resides in the application's handling of user input through the msg parameter, which is processed across multiple script endpoints including login.php, importer.php, add_groupe.php, contacts.php, groupes.php, and search.php. The flaw allows authenticated attackers to execute malicious scripts in the context of other users' browsers, potentially leading to session hijacking, data theft, or unauthorized actions within the application. This vulnerability type falls under CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting vulnerabilities, where improper input validation allows malicious code execution in the victim's browser environment.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability requires an authenticated user within the EsContacts application, as the XSS occurs in pages that typically require valid login credentials. Attackers can craft malicious payloads containing HTML or JavaScript code within the msg parameter, which gets reflected back to other users who view the affected pages. The reflected nature of this XSS means that the malicious code executes immediately when a victim accesses the vulnerable page, making it particularly dangerous for persistent attacks. The vulnerability affects multiple endpoints, indicating a systemic input sanitization failure rather than an isolated issue, which increases the attack surface and potential impact. The application's failure to properly validate or escape user-supplied input creates a persistent vector for malicious code injection that can be leveraged for various malicious purposes.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as authenticated users with malicious intent can exploit it to compromise the entire contact management system. Attackers could potentially steal session cookies, redirect users to phishing sites, modify contact information, or escalate privileges within the application. The vulnerability's presence in core functionality pages such as login.php and contacts.php means that even basic application operations could be compromised, potentially affecting user authentication and data integrity. Organizations using this version of EsContacts face significant risks including unauthorized access to sensitive contact data, potential data exfiltration, and the possibility of establishing persistent access through stolen session tokens. The reflected XSS nature also makes it difficult to detect and prevent through traditional network monitoring, as the malicious payloads are delivered through legitimate application interactions.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability must address the fundamental input validation failures within the EsContacts application. Organizations should immediately implement proper output encoding and input sanitization across all affected endpoints, ensuring that user-supplied data is properly escaped before being rendered in web pages. The recommended approach involves implementing strict input validation using allowlists of acceptable characters and lengths, combined with proper HTML entity encoding for all dynamic content. Security patches or updates to EsContacts version 1.0 should be applied immediately, as this vulnerability has been known since 2008 and likely has available remediation measures. Network security controls including web application firewalls should be configured to detect and block suspicious patterns in the msg parameter, though this should serve as a supplementary defense rather than primary protection. Additionally, implementing content security policies and regular security testing can help prevent similar vulnerabilities from emerging in future application versions, aligning with security best practices outlined in the OWASP Top Ten and NIST cybersecurity frameworks. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of input validation and output encoding in preventing XSS attacks, which remains a fundamental requirement for secure web application development.