CVE-2018-20827 in JIRA
Summary
by MITRE
The activity stream gadget in Jira before version 7.13.1 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary HTML or JavaScript via a cross site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the country parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/23/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-20827 represents a critical cross site scripting flaw within Jira's activity stream gadget functionality. This vulnerability specifically affects versions prior to 7.13.1 and exposes organizations to significant security risks through unauthorized code execution. The flaw manifests when the application fails to properly sanitize user input within the country parameter of the activity stream gadget, creating an avenue for malicious actors to inject harmful scripts into the application's response.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the activity stream gadget component. When users interact with the gadget and provide country data through the parameter field, the application processes this input without adequate sanitization measures. This processing failure allows attackers to craft malicious payloads that, when executed, can manipulate the web application's behavior and potentially compromise user sessions. The vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category for cross site scripting, specifically representing a reflected XSS attack vector where malicious code is reflected off the web server back to the user's browser.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script injection, potentially enabling attackers to perform session hijacking, steal sensitive user credentials, or manipulate the application's functionality. Attackers can exploit this flaw by crafting malicious URLs containing crafted JavaScript payloads within the country parameter, which when clicked by authenticated users, execute the malicious code in their browser context. This presents a significant risk to organizations relying on Jira for project management and collaboration, as successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive project data, user information, and potentially facilitate lateral movement within the organization's network infrastructure.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation through the application of the official patch released by Atlassian for Jira version 7.13.1 and subsequent releases. The mitigation strategy should include comprehensive input validation for all user-supplied parameters within the activity stream gadget and other similar components. Security teams should implement web application firewall rules to detect and block suspicious payloads targeting this specific vulnerability while conducting regular security assessments to identify similar input validation weaknesses. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under the T1213 technique for data from information repositories, as it enables unauthorized access to stored data through session manipulation. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing content security policies and regular security training for users to recognize and avoid potentially malicious links that exploit such vulnerabilities.