CVE-2008-5591 in Nightfall Personal Diary
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in login.asp in Nightfall Personal Diary 1.0 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the username parameter and possibly other "login fields." NOTE: some of these details are obtained from third party information.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/14/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-5591 represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within the Nightfall Personal Diary 1.0 web application. This vulnerability specifically targets the login.asp component where user input is not properly sanitized or validated before being rendered back to the browser. The issue manifests when attackers exploit the username parameter and potentially other login fields to inject malicious web scripts or HTML content. The vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting, which is classified as a fundamental web application security weakness that allows attackers to execute scripts in the context of other users. This particular implementation demonstrates how insufficient input validation can create persistent security risks within authentication mechanisms.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when an attacker submits malicious input through the username field during the login process. The application fails to properly encode or escape the user-supplied data before it is processed and displayed back to the user or stored in a manner that could be executed. When other users interact with the vulnerable application, their browsers execute the injected scripts, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or redirection to malicious sites. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple data theft as it can enable attackers to manipulate the application's behavior and potentially gain unauthorized access to user accounts. This flaw particularly affects the authentication flow where user credentials are processed, making it a prime target for attackers seeking to compromise user sessions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it undermines the fundamental security assumptions of the personal diary application. Users who authenticate through the vulnerable system become susceptible to various attack vectors including session fixation, credential harvesting, and data manipulation. The vulnerability's presence in the login process means that any user attempting to access their diary entries could inadvertently trigger the execution of malicious code. Attackers can craft payloads that persist across user sessions, potentially affecting multiple users who encounter the malicious content. This creates a persistent threat that can remain active until the vulnerability is patched, making it particularly dangerous for applications handling personal or sensitive information.
Security mitigations for this vulnerability should focus on implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms throughout the application. The recommended approach involves sanitizing all user inputs using established encoding techniques such as HTML entity encoding for output rendering and implementing strict input validation rules. Organizations should adopt the principle of least privilege in their application design and ensure that all dynamic content is properly escaped before being rendered in web contexts. The implementation of Content Security Policy headers can provide additional defense-in-depth measures to prevent script execution. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for Command and Scripting Interpreter and demonstrates the importance of following secure coding practices as outlined in OWASP Top Ten categories. Regular security assessments and code reviews should be implemented to identify similar vulnerabilities in other application components, particularly within authentication and input handling modules.