CVE-2008-2414 in AN Guestbook
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in send_email.php in AN Guestbook (ANG) 0.4 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the postid parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/19/2025
The CVE-2008-2414 vulnerability represents a classic cross-site scripting flaw in the AN Guestbook 0.4 web application that exposes users to significant security risks through improper input validation. This vulnerability specifically affects the send_email.php script which processes guestbook entries and fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input before rendering it in web responses. The vulnerability arises from the application's insufficient validation of the postid parameter, which is directly incorporated into the web page output without adequate sanitization or encoding mechanisms.
This XSS vulnerability falls under CWE-79 which categorizes improper neutralization of input during web page generation as a critical weakness in web applications. The flaw enables remote attackers to inject malicious scripts or HTML content through the postid parameter, allowing them to execute arbitrary code in the context of a victim's browser. The attack vector is particularly dangerous because it leverages the legitimate functionality of the guestbook application to deliver malicious payloads, making detection more challenging for security monitoring systems. Attackers can craft specially formatted postid values that, when processed by the vulnerable application, get executed in the browser of unsuspecting users who visit the affected page.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution to potentially compromise user sessions and sensitive data. When victims browse pages containing malicious content injected through the vulnerable parameter, attackers can steal session cookies, redirect users to malicious sites, or perform actions on behalf of authenticated users. This type of vulnerability undermines the fundamental security principles of web application development, particularly the need for proper input validation and output encoding. The vulnerability demonstrates a critical failure in the application's defense-in-depth strategy, as it lacks proper sanitization mechanisms that should be implemented at multiple layers of the application architecture.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2008-2414 should focus on implementing comprehensive input validation and output encoding practices that align with industry best practices and security frameworks. Organizations should immediately implement proper parameter sanitization by escaping special characters and validating input against expected formats before processing. The fix should include implementing proper HTML encoding for all user-supplied data that gets rendered in web responses, which directly addresses the underlying CWE-79 weakness. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing Content Security Policy headers to add an additional layer of protection against XSS attacks. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of regular security assessments and code reviews to identify similar weaknesses in web applications, particularly those following the ATT&CK framework's techniques for credential access and execution through web-based attacks. Security teams should also implement proper web application firewalls and monitoring systems to detect and prevent exploitation attempts targeting such vulnerabilities.