CVE-2015-5500 in Navigate Module
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Navigate module for Drupal allows remote authenticated users with certain permissions to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/18/2017
The CVE-2015-5500 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within the Navigate module for Drupal content management systems. This security weakness specifically affects authenticated users who possess certain permissions within the Drupal environment, creating a significant risk for organizations relying on this popular web publishing platform. The vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the Navigate module, which fails to properly sanitize user-supplied data before rendering it in web pages. The unspecified vectors indicate that the flaw can be exploited through multiple pathways within the module's functionality, making it particularly challenging to fully mitigate without comprehensive analysis of all potential attack surfaces.
The technical implementation of this XSS vulnerability allows malicious authenticated users to inject arbitrary web script or HTML code into the application's response. This occurs when user input containing malicious payloads is processed by the Navigate module and subsequently rendered without proper sanitization or encoding. The vulnerability specifically targets the module's handling of navigation-related data, where user-provided values might be used in HTML context without appropriate security measures. Attackers can leverage this flaw to execute scripts in the context of other users' browsers, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or data manipulation. The authenticated nature of the exploit means that attackers must first obtain valid credentials, but once inside the system, they can cause significant damage through this vector.
The operational impact of CVE-2015-5500 extends beyond simple script injection, as it can enable more sophisticated attacks within the Drupal environment. An attacker with sufficient privileges could craft malicious navigation elements that would execute in the browsers of other users, potentially leading to privilege escalation or data exfiltration. The vulnerability affects organizations using Drupal versions that include the vulnerable Navigate module, particularly those with multiple users who might have navigation-related permissions. This creates a risk for content management systems where navigation structures are frequently modified by various user roles, making the attack surface larger than typical XSS vulnerabilities. The persistence of this flaw in widely-used Drupal modules means that numerous organizations could be simultaneously affected, increasing the potential impact of coordinated attacks.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2015-5500 should focus on immediate patching of the Navigate module to address the underlying input validation issues. Organizations must ensure that all Drupal installations are updated to versions containing the security fixes for this vulnerability, with particular attention to the Navigate module's handling of user input. Implementing proper output encoding and input validation measures within the module's codebase is essential to prevent malicious payloads from being executed. Network segmentation and privilege separation can help limit the potential damage from successful exploitation, while monitoring systems should be configured to detect unusual navigation-related modifications that might indicate attempted exploitation. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which categorizes cross-site scripting flaws, and can be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1566 related to credential access through malicious web content. Regular security assessments and code reviews should be conducted to identify similar input validation weaknesses in other Drupal modules, as the vulnerability demonstrates how navigation components can become attack vectors for broader security breaches.