CVE-2017-6446 in DotClear
Summary
by MITRE
XSS was discovered in Dotclear v2.11.2, affecting admin/blogs.php and admin/users.php with the sortby and order parameters.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/04/2020
The vulnerability CVE-2017-6446 represents a cross-site scripting flaw identified in Dotclear version 2.11.2 that specifically targets administrative interfaces. This security weakness resides within the admin/blogs.php and admin/users.php pages where the application fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input parameters. The affected parameters include sortby and order which are commonly used for sorting data within administrative dashboards. When these parameters are manipulated by an attacker, they can inject malicious scripts that execute in the context of authenticated admin sessions.
This vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting, which is classified as a critical web application security flaw that allows attackers to inject client-side scripts into web pages viewed by other users. The specific nature of this flaw enables attackers to manipulate the sorting functionality of administrative interfaces, potentially leading to unauthorized actions within the application's administrative environment. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it affects pages that handle sensitive user and blog management operations, providing attackers with potential pathways to escalate privileges or access restricted administrative functions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution as it can enable attackers to perform session hijacking, steal administrative credentials, or manipulate the application's data management functions. When an authenticated administrator visits a page containing the malicious payload, the injected scripts execute with the administrator's privileges, potentially allowing full control over the application's backend. This creates a significant risk for organizations using Dotclear as their content management system, as successful exploitation could lead to complete compromise of the web application and potentially the underlying server infrastructure.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2017-6446 should focus on implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the affected application pages. The most effective remediation involves sanitizing all user-supplied input parameters before processing them, particularly parameters used for sorting operations. Organizations should implement strict parameter validation that restricts the sortby and order values to predefined safe options, while also ensuring that all dynamic content is properly escaped before being rendered in the browser. Additionally, applying the official security patch released by Dotclear for version 2.11.2 would eliminate this vulnerability. Security monitoring should include detection of suspicious parameter values in administrative interfaces, and implementing content security policies can provide additional protection against script injection attacks. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of input validation in web applications and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1213 which covers data from information repositories, particularly in the context of web application exploitation.