CVE-2011-5138 in tForum
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in member.php in tForum b0.915 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the username parameter in a viewprofile action.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/20/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2011-5138 represents a classic cross-site scripting flaw within the tForum software version b0.915, specifically affecting the member.php script during profile viewing operations. This issue resides in the handling of user-provided input through the username parameter, creating a persistent security weakness that enables malicious actors to execute arbitrary web scripts or HTML code within the context of other users' browsers. The vulnerability occurs when the application fails to properly sanitize or encode user-supplied data before rendering it in web pages, allowing attackers to inject malicious content that gets executed by unsuspecting users.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability follows the standard XSS attack pattern where the username parameter in the viewprofile action becomes the attack vector. When a user navigates to a profile page, the application retrieves the username from the request parameters and directly incorporates it into the HTML output without adequate input validation or output encoding. This creates a situation where an attacker can craft a malicious username containing script tags or other HTML elements that will be executed when other users view the profile. The vulnerability is classified as stored XSS since the malicious content is persisted in the application's database and executed whenever the affected page is accessed.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to both user privacy and application integrity within the tForum environment. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can potentially steal session cookies, redirect users to malicious websites, deface the forum content, or perform actions on behalf of other users. The attack requires minimal sophistication as it leverages the existing profile viewing functionality, making it particularly dangerous since users may not suspect that simply viewing a profile could lead to compromise. The vulnerability affects all users who can view profiles, potentially creating a wide attack surface within the forum community.
Security professionals should note that this vulnerability aligns with CWE-79, which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws in web applications. The issue also maps to ATT&CK technique T1566.001, which covers spearphishing attachments, as attackers may exploit this vulnerability through malicious profile entries to deliver payloads to other users. Organizations should implement comprehensive input validation and output encoding mechanisms to prevent such vulnerabilities, including sanitizing all user-provided data before rendering it in web pages. The recommended mitigations include implementing proper HTML escaping for all dynamic content, establishing strict input validation rules, and deploying web application firewalls to detect and prevent malicious input patterns. Additionally, regular security testing and code reviews should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in other application components and ensure that all user-supplied data is properly handled before being incorporated into web responses.