CVE-2008-6278 in Rakhisoftware Shopping Cart
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in product.php in RakhiSoftware Price Comparison Script (aka Shopping Cart) allow remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the (1) category_id and (2) subcategory_id parameters.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/27/2025
The CVE-2008-6278 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw in RakhiSoftware Price Comparison Script, commonly known as Shopping Cart, which affects the product.php script. This vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and sanitization mechanisms within the web application's parameter handling processes. The flaw specifically targets two parameters: category_id and subcategory_id, which are processed without proper sanitization, creating exploitable entry points for malicious actors to inject arbitrary web scripts or HTML content into the application's response.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability follows the classic XSS attack pattern where user-supplied data flows directly into the application's output without appropriate encoding or filtering. When attackers submit malicious payloads through the category_id and subcategory_id parameters, the application fails to validate or sanitize these inputs before rendering them in the web page context. This allows attackers to execute malicious scripts in the victim's browser context, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or redirection to malicious websites. The vulnerability's classification as a reflected XSS issue means that the malicious payload must be crafted specifically for each victim and delivered through social engineering or direct link manipulation.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script injection, as it can enable attackers to compromise user sessions and potentially gain unauthorized access to sensitive data within the application. The price comparison functionality of the shopping cart system makes it particularly attractive to attackers, as they can manipulate product listings and categories to redirect users to malicious sites or steal sensitive information. This vulnerability directly violates the principle of input validation and demonstrates a failure in the application's security architecture, creating opportunities for attackers to exploit the trust relationship between users and the web application. The vulnerability's presence in a shopping cart system also raises concerns about potential financial fraud and data breaches that could affect both users and merchants within the platform.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2008-6278 should focus on implementing comprehensive input validation and output encoding mechanisms throughout the application's codebase. The most effective approach involves sanitizing all user-supplied input parameters, particularly those used in dynamic content generation, through proper HTML encoding and validation routines. This aligns with CWE-79, which specifically addresses cross-site scripting vulnerabilities in web applications. Additionally, implementing a Content Security Policy (CSP) can provide an additional layer of protection against XSS attacks by restricting the sources from which scripts can be executed. The vulnerability's remediation requires developers to adopt secure coding practices that prevent the direct injection of user data into web responses, following the principle of least privilege and input sanitization as recommended by the OWASP Top Ten security standards. Regular security code reviews and automated vulnerability scanning should be implemented to prevent similar issues from emerging in future releases of the application.