CVE-2011-5048 in Web Experience Factory
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in IBM Web Experience Factory (aka WEF, formerly WebSphere Portlet Factory) 7.0 and 7.0.1 allow remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via a (1) text INPUT element or (2) TEXTAREA element, related to an interaction between Smart Refresh and Dojo.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/09/2017
The vulnerability CVE-2011-5048 represents a critical cross-site scripting weakness affecting IBM Web Experience Factory versions 7.0 and 7.0.1, previously known as WebSphere Portlet Factory. This security flaw resides in the application's handling of user input within text input fields and text areas, specifically when these elements interact with the Smart Refresh functionality and Dojo JavaScript library. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding mechanisms that fail to properly sanitize user-provided data before rendering it within web pages.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs when attackers exploit the interaction between Smart Refresh and Dojo components to inject malicious scripts into text INPUT and TEXTAREA elements. When users submit content through these form fields, the application fails to adequately encode or filter the input before displaying it back to other users. This creates a persistent XSS vector where malicious code can execute within the context of other users' browsers, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and specifically targets the client-side rendering process where user input is processed through the Dojo framework's Smart Refresh mechanism.
The operational impact of CVE-2011-5048 extends beyond simple data corruption or display issues, as it provides attackers with the capability to compromise entire user sessions within the Web Experience Factory environment. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to steal session cookies, redirect users to malicious sites, modify page content, or perform actions on behalf of authenticated users. Given that Web Experience Factory is designed for enterprise portal development, the potential damage increases significantly as compromised systems could affect multiple applications and user groups within the organization. The vulnerability particularly impacts organizations using the platform for building web applications, as the injected scripts can persist across user sessions and potentially affect all users interacting with the vulnerable portal components.
Organizations should implement multiple layers of defense to mitigate this vulnerability, beginning with immediate patching of affected IBM Web Experience Factory versions to the latest security releases. Input validation mechanisms must be strengthened to ensure all user-provided content undergoes proper sanitization before processing, with particular attention to text input and textarea elements. The implementation of Content Security Policy (CSP) headers can provide additional protection against script injection attacks, while proper output encoding should be enforced throughout the application's rendering pipeline. Security teams should also consider implementing web application firewalls to monitor and block suspicious input patterns, and conduct regular security assessments to identify similar vulnerabilities in other components of the web application stack. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-79, which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws, and represents a technique commonly catalogued under ATT&CK technique T1059 for executing malicious code through web interfaces.