CVE-2019-19456 in Streaming Engine
Summary
by MITRE
A Reflected XSS was found in the server selection box inside the login page at: enginemanager/loginfailed.html in Wowza Streaming Engine <= 4.x.x.
If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/18/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2019-19456 represents a critical reflected cross-site scripting flaw within the Wowza Streaming Engine software ecosystem. This security weakness manifests specifically within the login page functionality where user input is improperly sanitized and directly reflected back to the browser without adequate output encoding. The affected component resides in the enginemanager/loginfailed.html file, which serves as the server selection interface during authentication failures. This particular implementation fails to validate or sanitize user-supplied parameters that are subsequently rendered in the web interface, creating an exploitable condition that allows malicious actors to inject arbitrary JavaScript code into the victim's browser session.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability follows the standard reflected XSS attack pattern where an attacker crafts a malicious URL containing malicious script payload and delivers it to unsuspecting users through phishing emails, social engineering, or compromised web resources. When the victim clicks the crafted link, the malicious script executes within the context of the victim's browser session, potentially stealing session cookies, redirecting users to malicious sites, or performing unauthorized actions on behalf of the authenticated user. The vulnerability specifically affects all versions of Wowza Streaming Engine up to and including version 4.x.x, indicating this flaw has persisted across multiple releases and represents a significant security gap in the product's input validation mechanisms.
The operational impact of this reflected XSS vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution to encompass potential complete compromise of the streaming engine management interface. Since the vulnerability exists within the login page context, successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to the streaming engine configuration, allowing attackers to modify server settings, create new user accounts, or even gain administrative control over the entire streaming platform. This risk is particularly concerning for organizations relying on Wowza Streaming Engine for critical media delivery services where unauthorized access could result in service disruption, content theft, or unauthorized modification of streaming configurations. The vulnerability also poses a risk to the broader network infrastructure as streaming engines often serve as central components in media delivery architectures.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2019-19456 should prioritize immediate patching of affected systems to the latest stable releases of Wowza Streaming Engine where the XSS vulnerability has been addressed through proper input sanitization and output encoding mechanisms. Organizations should implement comprehensive input validation at multiple layers including web application firewalls, server-side validation, and client-side sanitization to prevent similar issues from manifesting in other components. The implementation of Content Security Policy headers can provide additional defense-in-depth measures by restricting the sources from which scripts can be executed within the browser context. Security teams should also conduct thorough vulnerability assessments of all web applications within their environment, particularly focusing on authentication pages and any components that handle user input, as this vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws in web applications. This issue also maps to ATT&CK technique T1566 which covers social engineering through spearphishing, as attackers could leverage this vulnerability to establish persistent access through malicious links delivered via phishing campaigns.