CVE-2017-1000431 in eZ Publish
Summary
by MITRE
eZ Systems eZ Publish version 5.4.0 to 5.4.9, and 5.3.12 and older, is vulnerable to an XSS issue in the search module, resulting in a risk of attackers injecting scripts which may e.g. steal authentication credentials.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/19/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-1000431 affects eZ Systems eZ Publish content management platform versions 5.4.0 through 5.4.9 and 5.3.12 and earlier, specifically within the search module functionality. This represents a critical cross-site scripting vulnerability that exposes the system to malicious injection attacks targeting user sessions and authentication mechanisms. The flaw resides in how the platform processes search queries and displays results, creating an avenue for attackers to execute arbitrary scripts in the context of authenticated user sessions.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding within the search module's handling of user-supplied parameters. When users submit search terms, the application fails to properly sanitize or escape special characters that could be interpreted as HTML or JavaScript code. This weakness allows attackers to craft malicious search queries containing script tags or other executable code that gets rendered in subsequent search result pages. The vulnerability manifests as a classic reflected cross-site scripting issue where the malicious payload is reflected back to users through the search interface without proper sanitization.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, creating significant risks for organizations relying on eZ Publish for content management and user authentication. Attackers can leverage this weakness to steal session cookies, authentication tokens, and potentially gain unauthorized access to administrative functions. The vulnerability particularly threatens web applications that use eZ Publish for user-facing portals where search functionality is heavily utilized. Security researchers have classified this as a high-severity issue due to its potential for credential theft and privilege escalation, especially when combined with other attack vectors that may be present in the broader application ecosystem.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including input validation and output encoding controls within the search module. The recommended approach involves sanitizing all user input before processing and ensuring proper HTML escaping when rendering search results. Security patches and updates from eZ Systems should be applied immediately to address the root cause of the vulnerability. Additionally, implementing content security policies and monitoring for unusual search query patterns can help detect potential exploitation attempts. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws in web applications and represents a common attack surface identified in the ATT&CK framework under the web application exploitation category, particularly relevant for credential access and privilege escalation techniques.