CVE-2018-19189 in payfort-php-SDK
Summary
by MITRE
The Amazon PAYFORT payfort-php-SDK payment gateway SDK through 2018-04-26 has XSS via an arbitrary parameter name or value that is mishandled in an error.php echo statement.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/12/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-19189 affects the Amazon PAYFORT payfort-php-SDK payment gateway software development kit version released on or before April 26, 2018. This issue represents a cross-site scripting vulnerability that arises from improper handling of user-supplied input within the error.php file. The flaw occurs when arbitrary parameter names or values are passed to the SDK and subsequently echoed without adequate sanitization or encoding, creating a vector for malicious code injection. The vulnerability specifically manifests in the error handling mechanism where error messages containing user-provided data are directly output to web pages without proper contextual escaping.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the SDK's failure to properly validate and sanitize input parameters before incorporating them into error messages displayed to end users. When payment processing encounters an error, the system constructs error messages that include parameter names and values from the request. The error.php script directly echoes these parameters without applying appropriate HTML escaping or context-specific encoding mechanisms. This oversight allows attackers to inject malicious scripts when submitting specially crafted parameter names or values that contain script tags or other malicious payloads. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it can be exploited through any parameter that gets processed by the error handling routine, making it broadly applicable across various payment scenarios and integration points.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script injection, as it provides attackers with the ability to execute malicious code within the context of a victim's browser session. This could enable session hijacking, credential theft, or redirection to malicious websites. Attackers could potentially exploit this vulnerability by crafting payment requests with malicious parameter values that, when processed by the SDK, would execute arbitrary JavaScript in the victim's browser. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous in payment processing contexts where users may be authenticated or where sensitive payment information is handled, as it could lead to complete compromise of user sessions and potential financial fraud. The broad applicability of the vulnerability means that any system using the affected SDK version could be at risk, regardless of the specific payment processing scenario.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability involve immediate remediation through code updates that implement proper input sanitization and output encoding practices. The most effective approach is to ensure that all user-supplied data passed to error handling routines undergoes appropriate HTML entity encoding before being echoed to web pages. This aligns with established security practices outlined in the CWE-79 category for Cross-Site Scripting vulnerabilities, which emphasizes the importance of context-appropriate output encoding. Organizations should also implement parameter validation to reject or sanitize potentially malicious input before it reaches the error handling components. Additionally, the affected SDK version should be upgraded to a patched release that addresses the specific output handling issues in error.php. Security monitoring should include detection of unusual parameter patterns that might indicate attempted exploitation of this vulnerability, and incident response procedures should be updated to address potential XSS attacks targeting payment processing systems. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under the T1059.007 technique for script injection, highlighting the need for comprehensive input validation and output encoding controls in web applications.