CVE-2008-5061 in Mini Web Calendar
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in php/cal_default.php in Mini Web Calendar (mwcal) 1.2 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the URL.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/10/2024
The CVE-2008-5061 vulnerability represents a classic cross-site scripting flaw in the Mini Web Calendar version 1.2 web application. This security weakness resides in the php/cal_default.php file and demonstrates a critical failure in input validation and output encoding practices. The vulnerability enables remote attackers to inject malicious web scripts or HTML content through URL parameters, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited without requiring any authentication or privileged access. The flaw essentially allows an attacker to manipulate the application's behavior by injecting malicious code that gets executed in the context of other users' browsers who visit the affected calendar pages.
This vulnerability directly maps to CWE-79 which defines Cross-Site Scripting as a weakness where untrusted data is sent to a web browser without proper validation or encoding, allowing malicious scripts to execute. The specific nature of this flaw aligns with the broader category of reflected XSS attacks where the malicious payload is reflected off the web server back to the user's browser. The vulnerability exists because the application fails to sanitize or encode user-supplied input before incorporating it into dynamically generated web pages, creating an environment where attacker-controlled data can be executed as legitimate script content.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft or defacement. When exploited, the XSS flaw can enable session hijacking attacks where attackers steal user authentication tokens, perform unauthorized actions on behalf of victims, or redirect users to malicious sites for phishing purposes. The vulnerability affects all users who access the calendar application through the affected URL parameters, making it a widespread risk across the entire user base. Attackers can craft malicious URLs that, when clicked by unsuspecting users, execute scripts that can capture keystrokes, steal cookies, or modify calendar data. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where the calendar application might be used for sensitive business or personal information management.
Security professionals should implement multiple layers of defense to mitigate this vulnerability. The primary remediation involves implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms throughout the application. All user-supplied data must be sanitized before being processed or displayed, with special characters properly escaped or encoded to prevent script execution. The application should employ a whitelist-based approach to validate URL parameters and ensure that only expected data formats are accepted. Additionally, implementing Content Security Policy headers can provide an additional defense layer by restricting the sources from which scripts can be loaded. Organizations should also conduct regular security assessments and code reviews to identify similar vulnerabilities in other components of their web applications, as this type of flaw often indicates broader input validation issues that may exist elsewhere in the codebase. The vulnerability underscores the critical importance of following secure coding practices and adhering to established security frameworks that emphasize proper input validation and output encoding as fundamental defenses against XSS attacks.