CVE-2010-2844 in NewsOffice
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in news_show.php in Newanz NewsOffice 2.0.18 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the n-cat parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/01/2025
The CVE-2010-2844 vulnerability represents a classic cross-site scripting flaw within the Newanz NewsOffice 2.0.18 content management system that exposes web applications to persistent client-side attacks. This vulnerability specifically targets the news_show.php script which processes user input through the n-cat parameter, creating an entry point for malicious actors to execute unauthorized scripts within the context of other users' browsers. The flaw falls under the Common Weakness Enumeration category CWE-79 which defines improper neutralization of input during web page generation as a critical weakness in web application security. The vulnerability operates by failing to properly sanitize or validate user-supplied input before incorporating it into dynamically generated web content, thereby allowing attackers to inject malicious code that executes in the victim's browser session.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script injection, as it provides attackers with the capability to perform session hijacking, deface web pages, steal sensitive cookies, and potentially escalate privileges within the affected application. When a user clicks on a malicious link containing crafted input in the n-cat parameter, the vulnerable application processes this input without adequate sanitization and displays it directly in the browser, executing the injected JavaScript code. This creates a persistent threat vector where attackers can maintain access to affected systems through stolen session tokens or by redirecting users to malicious sites. The vulnerability demonstrates a fundamental failure in input validation and output encoding practices that are essential for preventing XSS attacks according to the OWASP Top Ten security framework.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2010-2844 should focus on implementing robust input validation and output encoding mechanisms across all user-facing parameters within the application. Organizations should implement proper parameter sanitization techniques that strip or encode dangerous characters such as angle brackets, script tags, and event handlers before processing user input. The fix typically involves updating the news_show.php script to validate the n-cat parameter against a whitelist of allowed categories or properly encode all output using functions like htmlspecialchars() in php applications. Additionally, implementing a Content Security Policy (CSP) header can provide an additional layer of defense by restricting the sources from which scripts can be loaded, thereby limiting the impact of successful XSS attacks. Security professionals should also consider deploying web application firewalls and conducting regular security assessments to identify similar vulnerabilities in other application components. The remediation approach aligns with the ATT&CK framework's mitigation strategies for web application attacks, emphasizing the importance of input validation and output encoding as primary defensive measures against client-side exploitation techniques.