CVE-2008-3334 in MyBB
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in MyBB 1.2.x before 1.2.14 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified vectors, possibly involving search.php.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/30/2018
The vulnerability described in CVE-2008-3334 represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw affecting MyBB version 1.2.x prior to 1.2.14. This issue manifests as a security weakness that enables remote attackers to inject malicious web script or HTML code into the application's response, potentially compromising user sessions and data integrity. The vulnerability specifically involves the search.php component of the bulletin board system, which processes user input and generates dynamic content without adequate sanitization mechanisms. The unspecified vectors suggest that the attack could occur through multiple input points within the search functionality, making the exploitation surface broader than initially apparent.
This vulnerability directly maps to CWE-79, which defines cross-site scripting as a weakness where untrusted data is improperly incorporated into web page content without proper validation or encoding. The flaw exploits the fundamental principle of web application security that all user-provided input must be treated as potentially malicious and validated before being rendered in the browser context. The MyBB platform's failure to adequately sanitize search parameters creates an environment where attackers can inject script code that executes in the context of other users' browsers, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or data manipulation. The vulnerability's impact is amplified by the widespread use of bulletin board systems and the fact that search functionality typically processes user input without sufficient security controls.
The operational implications of this vulnerability extend beyond simple script injection, as it can enable sophisticated attack chains that leverage the trust relationship between users and the application. Attackers can craft malicious search queries that, when executed by other users, trigger unauthorized actions within the victim's browser context. This includes potential cookie theft through document.cookie access, redirection to malicious sites, or even the execution of arbitrary commands if the application's security model allows such operations. The attack vector through search.php suggests that even legitimate users who perform searches could inadvertently trigger malicious code execution if the application does not properly validate and escape input parameters. The vulnerability essentially undermines the application's ability to maintain a secure session and protect user data from unauthorized access.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate patching to version 1.2.14 or later, which would contain the necessary input validation and sanitization fixes. Organizations should implement comprehensive input validation mechanisms that encode or escape all user-provided data before processing, particularly in search and other dynamic content generation functions. The implementation of Content Security Policy headers can provide additional defense-in-depth measures by restricting the sources from which scripts can be executed. Security teams should also consider deploying web application firewalls that can detect and block suspicious search parameter patterns, and conduct regular security assessments to identify similar vulnerabilities in other components. According to ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability aligns with T1059.007 for script injection techniques and T1566 for social engineering attacks that leverage web-based exploitation vectors. Regular security monitoring and incident response procedures should be established to detect potential exploitation attempts and ensure rapid remediation when similar vulnerabilities are discovered in other systems.