CVE-2009-4250 in UTF-8 CuteNews
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in CutePHP CuteNews 1.4.6 and UTF-8 CuteNews before 8b allow remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via (1) the result parameter to register.php; (2) the user parameter to search.php; the (3) cat_msg, (4) source_msg, (5) postponed_selected, (6) unapproved_selected, and (7) news_per_page parameters in a list action to the editnews module of index.php; and (8) the link tag in news comments. NOTE: some of the vulnerabilities require register_globals to be enabled and/or magic_quotes_gpc to be disabled.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/30/2025
The CVE-2009-4250 vulnerability represents a significant cross-site scripting vulnerability affecting CutePHP CuteNews versions 1.4.6 and earlier, as well as UTF-8 CuteNews versions prior to 8b. This vulnerability classifies under CWE-79 as a failure to sanitize user input, creating multiple attack vectors that could allow remote attackers to inject malicious web scripts or HTML content into the affected web application. The vulnerability specifically targets the CuteNews content management system, which was widely used for simple web publishing and news management purposes.
The technical flaw manifests through eight distinct parameter injection points within the application's codebase, each representing a separate XSS vector that could be exploited by malicious actors. The first vector involves the result parameter in register.php, where unfiltered user input could be executed in the context of other users' browsers. The second vector targets the user parameter in search.php, allowing attackers to inject scripts during search operations. Additional vectors include the cat_msg, source_msg, postponed_selected, unapproved_selected, and news_per_page parameters within the editnews module of index.php, which are processed during list operations. The final vector targets the link tag within news comments, demonstrating how user-generated content could become a source of malicious script execution.
The operational impact of these vulnerabilities is substantial, as they enable attackers to execute arbitrary scripts in the context of affected users' browsers, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or unauthorized actions within the application. Attackers could craft malicious payloads that would persist in the application's data storage and be executed whenever legitimate users viewed affected pages. The requirement for register_globals to be enabled and/or magic_quotes_gpc to be disabled creates a specific environmental condition that must be met for exploitation, though this does not eliminate the risk as many older web applications still operated under these configurations. The vulnerability affects not just the application's functionality but also its security integrity, as user-generated content becomes a potential attack surface.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2009-4250 should focus on immediate patching of the CuteNews application to versions that address these XSS vulnerabilities. Organizations should implement comprehensive input validation and output encoding mechanisms, particularly for all user-supplied parameters. The application should enforce proper sanitization of all input data before processing, implementing techniques such as HTML entity encoding, allowing only safe characters, and using parameterized queries where applicable. Security configurations should be reviewed to disable register_globals and ensure magic_quotes_gpc is properly enabled, as these settings significantly reduce the attack surface. Additionally, implementing a web application firewall with XSS detection capabilities and conducting regular security audits of the application's codebase would provide additional layers of protection. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper input validation and output encoding in preventing XSS attacks, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1203 for exploitation of input validation flaws and T1548 for privilege escalation through session manipulation.