CVE-2010-2617 in PHP Bible Search
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in bible.php in PHP Bible Search allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the chapter parameter.
Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/29/2025
The CVE-2010-2617 vulnerability represents a classic cross-site scripting flaw in the PHP Bible Search application's bible.php script. This security weakness resides in the improper handling of user input within the chapter parameter, creating an avenue for malicious actors to execute arbitrary web scripts or HTML code within the context of other users' browsers. The vulnerability specifically affects the web application's ability to sanitize and validate input data before processing and rendering it back to users, thereby enabling attackers to inject malicious payloads that can persist and execute in the victim's browser environment.
The technical implementation of this XSS vulnerability stems from the application's failure to properly escape or filter special characters in the chapter parameter. When users submit data through the chapter input field, the application processes this information without adequate sanitization measures, allowing attackers to embed script tags or other malicious HTML elements that get executed when other users view the affected page. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-79 - Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation, which specifically addresses the failure to neutralize input data before it is incorporated into dynamically generated web content. The vulnerability's classification aligns with the broader category of injection flaws that compromise web application security by enabling attackers to manipulate the application's behavior through malicious input.
The operational impact of CVE-2010-2617 extends beyond simple data theft or defacement, as it creates persistent security risks for users of the PHP Bible Search application. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to steal session cookies, redirect users to malicious websites, perform actions on behalf of authenticated users, or even establish persistent backdoors within the application's user base. The vulnerability's remote exploitation capability means that attackers do not need physical access to the system or local network to execute attacks, making it particularly dangerous in web-facing applications. According to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability maps to the T1059.007 technique for Command and Scripting Interpreter: JavaScript, as it enables attackers to execute JavaScript code within victim browsers. The impact is further amplified by the fact that the vulnerability affects a web application that may be used by multiple users, potentially allowing attackers to compromise numerous user sessions simultaneously.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2010-2617 require immediate implementation of proper input validation and output encoding measures within the affected PHP application. The most effective approach involves implementing strict input sanitization by filtering and escaping special characters in all user-supplied data before processing, particularly focusing on the chapter parameter in bible.php. Developers should employ context-specific output encoding techniques such as HTML entity encoding when rendering user input back to the browser, which prevents malicious scripts from executing in the browser context. Additionally, implementing a Content Security Policy (CSP) header can provide an additional layer of protection by restricting the sources from which scripts can be loaded and executed. Security patches should include comprehensive input validation routines that reject or sanitize potentially dangerous characters such as angle brackets, quotes, and script tags. The remediation process should also involve thorough code reviews to identify similar vulnerabilities in other parameters or scripts within the application, as this type of input handling weakness often indicates broader security gaps that require systematic addressing rather than isolated fixes.