CVE-2009-2126 in Elvinbts
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in close_bug.php in Elvin before 1.2.1 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the title (aka subject) field.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/11/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2009-2126 represents a classic cross-site scripting flaw within the Elvin bug tracking system prior to version 1.2.1. This issue resides in the close_bug.php script which processes bug closure requests and fails to properly sanitize user input submitted through the title or subject field. The vulnerability classification aligns with CWE-79 which specifically addresses Cross-Site Scripting attacks where untrusted data is incorporated into web page content without proper validation or encoding. Attackers can exploit this weakness by submitting malicious script code within the title field when closing a bug report, which then gets executed in the context of other users' browsers who view the affected page.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script injection as it creates a persistent threat vector within the Elvin application environment. When authenticated users view bug reports containing malicious payloads, their browsers execute the injected code, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or redirection to malicious sites. The vulnerability demonstrates a critical failure in input validation and output encoding practices that violates fundamental web security principles. According to ATT&CK framework, this represents a T1059.007 technique involving script injection in web applications, which can be leveraged for privilege escalation or lateral movement within the affected system environment.
The technical exploitation requires minimal prerequisites as attackers only need access to the bug tracking system to submit malicious content through the title field. This vulnerability affects the core functionality of the application by compromising user sessions and potentially enabling more sophisticated attacks. The flaw demonstrates poor secure coding practices where user-supplied data flows directly into HTML output without appropriate sanitization. Organizations using Elvin versions prior to 1.2.1 face significant risk as this vulnerability can be exploited by both authenticated and unauthenticated attackers depending on the system configuration. The vulnerability's persistence means that once exploited, malicious scripts remain active until the affected bug report is modified or deleted, creating a long-term security exposure.
Mitigation strategies should focus on immediate patching of the Elvin application to version 1.2.1 or later where the vulnerability has been addressed through proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms. Organizations should implement comprehensive input sanitization routines that strip or encode potentially dangerous characters before processing user input. Additionally, web application firewalls and security headers can provide additional defense-in-depth measures. The fix should incorporate proper HTML entity encoding for all user-supplied content before rendering in web pages, which directly addresses the CWE-79 classification. Regular security testing including automated vulnerability scanning and manual penetration testing should be implemented to identify similar issues in other application components. Organizations should also consider implementing Content Security Policy headers to further limit the execution of unauthorized scripts within the application context.