CVE-2008-5808 in Movable Type
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Six Apart Movable Type Enterprise (MTE) 1.x before 1.56; Movable Type (MT) 3.x before 3.38; and Movable Type, Movable Type Open Source (MTOS), and Movable Type Enterprise 4.x before 4.23 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified vectors, possibly related to "application management."
Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/03/2017
The CVE-2008-5808 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw affecting multiple versions of Six Apart's Movable Type content management systems including Enterprise, Standard, and Open Source editions. This vulnerability exists within the application management functionality of these systems, creating a pathway for remote attackers to inject malicious web scripts or HTML code into the application's response. The flaw stems from inadequate input validation and output sanitization mechanisms that fail to properly escape or filter user-supplied data before rendering it within web pages. The vulnerability impacts versions 1.x prior to 1.56, 3.x prior to 3.38, and 4.x prior to 4.23, indicating a widespread issue across the product line that persisted for several major releases. The attack vector involves unspecified methods of data injection that are likely related to how the application handles administrative inputs, user management parameters, or configuration settings within the application management interface. This represents a classic XSS vulnerability pattern where user-controllable data flows directly into the application's output without proper sanitization, creating opportunities for attackers to execute malicious scripts in the context of other users' browsers. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-79, which specifically addresses Cross-site Scripting flaws in web applications. From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to organizations using these CMS versions, as successful exploitation could enable attackers to steal session cookies, perform unauthorized actions on behalf of users, redirect victims to malicious sites, or extract sensitive information from authenticated sessions. The impact extends beyond simple script injection as it can facilitate more sophisticated attacks such as credential theft, privilege escalation, or data exfiltration. The vulnerability's presence in application management components particularly amplifies its danger since administrators often have elevated privileges within the system, making successful exploitation potentially devastating for the organization's security posture. This flaw also maps to ATT&CK technique T1566.001, which covers Phishing with Malicious Attachments, as attackers could leverage this vulnerability to deliver malicious payloads through compromised CMS interfaces. Organizations running affected versions face a high risk of compromise, as the vulnerability does not require authentication for exploitation and can be triggered through various input points within the application management functionality. The technical implementation issues likely involve insufficient HTML escaping of user inputs in administrative forms, parameter handling within API endpoints, or improper sanitization of data submitted through management interfaces. The vulnerability's persistence across multiple major versions suggests a fundamental flaw in the input validation architecture rather than isolated coding errors. Security teams should prioritize immediate patching of affected systems and conduct thorough security assessments of all CMS installations to identify similar vulnerabilities. The remediation approach should include implementing proper input validation, output encoding, and Content Security Policy headers to mitigate the risk of XSS exploitation. Additionally, organizations should review their application management interfaces for similar vulnerabilities and consider implementing web application firewalls to provide additional protection layers against such attacks. The vulnerability underscores the importance of maintaining current software versions and implementing comprehensive security testing procedures to identify and remediate such critical flaws before they can be exploited in real-world scenarios.