CVE-2008-3850 in Secure File Transfer Appliance
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Accellion File Transfer FTA_7_0_135 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the PATH_INFO to courier/forgot_password.html.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/09/2025
The CVE-2008-3850 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw discovered in the Accellion File Transfer Appliance version 7.0.135. This vulnerability resides within the web application interface of the file transfer system, specifically targeting the courier/forgot_password.html page. The flaw enables remote attackers to execute malicious scripts in the context of authenticated users' browsers, potentially compromising the security of the entire file transfer environment.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding within the application's handling of PATH_INFO parameters. When the system processes user-supplied data through the forgot_password.html endpoint, it fails to properly sanitize or escape special characters that could be interpreted as HTML or JavaScript code. This allows attackers to inject malicious payloads that execute in the victim's browser context when the affected page is rendered. The vulnerability is classified as a classic reflected XSS attack where the malicious input is immediately reflected back to the user without proper sanitization.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script injection, as it can be leveraged to perform session hijacking, credential theft, and unauthorized access to sensitive file transfer operations. Attackers could potentially redirect users to malicious sites, steal session cookies, or manipulate the file transfer process to gain unauthorized access to confidential data. Given that the Accellion appliance is commonly used for secure file transfers in enterprise environments, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to organizations handling sensitive information. The reflected nature of the attack means that successful exploitation could occur through phishing emails or malicious links distributed to unsuspecting users.
Security professionals should note that this vulnerability aligns with CWE-79, which describes improper neutralization of input during web page generation, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1566 for the initial access phase. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including input validation, output encoding, and web application firewall rules to prevent PATH_INFO parameter injection. The recommended remediation involves patching to the latest available version of the Accellion appliance, implementing proper parameter validation, and conducting thorough security testing of all web application components to identify similar vulnerabilities in the system's attack surface.