CVE-2010-4745 in PHPXref
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in nav.html in PHPXref before 0.7.1 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the query string.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/17/2021
The CVE-2010-4745 vulnerability represents a classic cross-site scripting flaw in the PHPXref web application, a tool designed for browsing and analyzing php source code. This vulnerability specifically affects versions prior to 0.7.1 and resides within the nav.html component of the application. The flaw occurs when the application fails to properly sanitize user input received through the query string parameter, creating an avenue for malicious actors to inject arbitrary web scripts or HTML content into the application's response. The vulnerability demonstrates a critical weakness in input validation and output encoding practices within the web application's codebase.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability follows a standard XSS attack pattern where an attacker crafts a malicious URL containing script code within the query string parameters. When a victim navigates to this crafted URL, the PHPXref application processes the unvalidated input and reflects the malicious script back to the victim's browser. This reflection occurs without proper HTML escaping or sanitization, allowing the injected code to execute within the victim's browser context. The vulnerability is classified as a stored XSS variant since the malicious input is processed and stored within the application's navigation components, making it persistent across multiple user sessions and potentially affecting all users who access the affected pages.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to organizations using PHPXref for source code analysis and development environments. Attackers could leverage this flaw to steal session cookies, perform unauthorized actions on behalf of users, redirect victims to malicious websites, or even execute more sophisticated attacks such as credential theft or phishing attempts. The vulnerability affects the integrity and confidentiality of the development environment, potentially compromising sensitive source code repositories and development workflows. According to CWE classification, this represents a CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation, which is a fundamental web security weakness that directly enables XSS attacks. The vulnerability also aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001: Phishing, as attackers could use this vulnerability to deliver malicious payloads through crafted URLs that appear legitimate to developers.
The remediation approach for this vulnerability requires immediate implementation of proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms. Organizations should upgrade to PHPXref version 0.7.1 or later, where the developers have implemented appropriate sanitization of query string parameters. The fix should include comprehensive input validation that rejects or escapes potentially malicious content before processing, combined with proper HTML escaping of all dynamic content before rendering in the user interface. Additionally, implementing a Content Security Policy (CSP) header can provide an additional layer of defense against XSS attacks by restricting the sources from which scripts can be loaded. Security teams should also conduct thorough code reviews to identify similar input validation gaps in other components and establish secure coding practices that prevent such vulnerabilities from reoccurring in future development cycles.