CVE-2009-5046 in Jetty
Summary
by MITRE
JSP Dump and Session Dump Servlet XSS in jetty before 6.1.22.
If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/07/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2009-5046 represents a cross-site scripting flaw discovered in the Jetty web server software prior to version 6.1.22. This security weakness specifically affects the JSP Dump and Session Dump Servlet components within the Jetty framework, which are designed to provide diagnostic information about running web applications. These servlets serve as debugging tools that expose internal server state and application data to administrators for troubleshooting purposes, but they inadvertently create opportunities for malicious actors to inject harmful scripts into web responses.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding within the JSP Dump and Session Dump Servlet implementations. When these servlets process requests, they fail to properly sanitize user-supplied parameters or data that gets reflected back in the HTTP response without adequate HTML escaping or context-appropriate encoding. This allows attackers to craft malicious payloads that, when executed in a victim's browser, can perform unauthorized actions such as stealing session cookies, redirecting users to malicious sites, or executing arbitrary JavaScript code within the context of the vulnerable application.
The operational impact of CVE-2009-5046 extends beyond simple data exposure, as it provides attackers with a potential foothold for more sophisticated attacks within the web application environment. Since these servlets are typically accessible to authenticated users with administrative privileges, an attacker who gains access to such credentials could leverage this vulnerability to escalate their privileges or conduct session hijacking attacks. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-79, which classifies cross-site scripting flaws, and represents a classic example of how debugging tools can become security risks when not properly secured. This weakness particularly affects organizations running older versions of Jetty where administrators might have enabled these diagnostic servlets in production environments without proper access controls.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should prioritize immediate remediation through upgrading to Jetty version 6.1.22 or later, where the XSS issues have been addressed through proper input sanitization and output encoding mechanisms. Additionally, administrators should implement network-level access controls to restrict access to these diagnostic servlets, ensuring they are only available from trusted administrative networks. The mitigation strategy should also include regular security assessments of web application components to identify and disable unnecessary diagnostic servlets that could serve as attack vectors. This vulnerability demonstrates the importance of applying the principle of least privilege and maintaining current security patches, as it represents a well-known weakness that was resolved in subsequent software versions. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this as a web application vulnerability exploitation technique, specifically related to command and control communications through compromised web applications, making it a critical concern for organizations maintaining web server infrastructure.