CVE-2012-6510 in Car Portal
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in NetArt Media Car Portal 3.0 allow remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the (1) PWRS or (2) Description field when posting a new vehicle; (3) news title when creating news; (4) Name when creating a sub user; (5) group name when creating a group; or (6) dealer name, (7) first name, or (8) last name when changing a profile.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/25/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-6510 represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within NetArt Media Car Portal version 3.0, a web application designed for automotive dealerships to manage vehicle listings and related content. This vulnerability falls under the Common Weakness Enumeration category CWE-79, which specifically addresses cross-site scripting weaknesses in web applications. The flaw enables remote attackers to execute malicious scripts within the context of other users' browsers, potentially compromising the security of the entire application ecosystem.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding within multiple user-facing forms throughout the car portal application. Attackers can exploit this weakness by injecting malicious JavaScript code or HTML payloads into several key fields including vehicle posting forms where the PWRS and Description fields are vulnerable, news creation interfaces where the news title field accepts malicious input, user management sections where sub user names are processed, group creation forms where group names are not properly sanitized, and profile modification areas where dealer names, first names, and last names can be manipulated. These injection points represent common attack vectors that bypass standard security measures through inadequate sanitization of user-supplied data.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft or defacement, as it creates persistent security risks for all users interacting with the compromised application. When victims view affected content, their browsers execute the injected scripts, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or redirection to malicious sites. The vulnerability affects the entire user base including administrators, dealers, and regular users, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited by attackers without requiring elevated privileges. The persistence of these XSS flaws means that once exploited, malicious payloads can continue to affect users until the vulnerability is patched and the affected content is removed.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2012-6510 should focus on implementing comprehensive input validation and output encoding across all user-supplied data fields. The application should employ proper HTML escaping techniques for all dynamic content rendered to users, ensuring that special characters are properly encoded to prevent script execution. Additionally, implementing a Content Security Policy (CSP) can provide an additional layer of protection against XSS attacks by restricting the sources from which scripts can be loaded. The application should also adopt proper sanitization libraries that can identify and neutralize malicious input patterns before they are processed or stored in the database. Organizations using this software should prioritize immediate patching and consider implementing web application firewalls as temporary mitigation while permanent fixes are deployed. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of input validation and output encoding practices in web security, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1203 for exploitation of web applications and emphasizing the need for defense-in-depth strategies against persistent XSS threats.