CVE-2019-7880 in Magento
Summary
by MITRE
A stored cross-site scripting vulnerability exists in the admin panel of Magento 2.1 prior to 2.1.18, Magento 2.2 prior to 2.2.9, Magento 2.3 prior to 2.3.2. This could be exploited by an authenticated user with privileges to marketing email templates to inject malicious javascript.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/19/2020
The stored cross-site scripting vulnerability identified as CVE-2019-7880 represents a critical security flaw in Magento e-commerce platforms that affects multiple versions including Magento 2.1 prior to 2.1.18, Magento 2.2 prior to 2.2.9, and Magento 2.3 prior to 2.3.2. This vulnerability specifically targets the administrative panel of the Magento platform, creating a persistent threat vector that can be exploited by authenticated users with access to marketing email template functionality. The flaw allows attackers to inject malicious javascript code that persists in the system and executes when other users view the affected email templates, making it a stored XSS vulnerability rather than a reflected one. The vulnerability stems from inadequate input sanitization and output encoding mechanisms within the email template handling components of the Magento admin interface.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability requires an authenticated user with sufficient privileges to access the marketing email template section of the Magento admin panel. This privilege level typically includes marketing managers, administrators, or users with similar access rights who can create, edit, or manage email templates used for customer communications. Attackers can leverage this access to inject malicious javascript payloads directly into email template content, which then gets stored in the database and executed whenever the template is rendered or viewed by other users. The stored nature of this vulnerability means that the malicious code remains persistent even after the initial injection, making it particularly dangerous as it can affect multiple users over time. The attack vector specifically targets the rendering process of email templates in the admin panel, where user-supplied content is not properly sanitized before being stored or displayed.
The operational impact of CVE-2019-7880 extends beyond simple script execution, potentially enabling attackers to perform a wide range of malicious activities including session hijacking, credential theft, data exfiltration, and redirection to malicious websites. When executed, the injected javascript can access the victim's browser session cookies, potentially allowing attackers to impersonate legitimate users and gain unauthorized access to the Magento admin panel. The vulnerability also creates opportunities for attackers to harvest sensitive customer data, manipulate email content, or redirect users to phishing sites that can capture additional credentials. Given that email templates are often used for important customer communications, the impact on business operations can be significant, potentially affecting customer trust, brand reputation, and regulatory compliance. The vulnerability's presence in multiple Magento versions suggests a widespread impact across various deployments, making it a particularly concerning security issue for organizations using these platform versions.
Organizations affected by CVE-2019-7880 should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided security patches for the affected Magento versions, implementing strict input validation and output encoding measures, and conducting comprehensive security assessments of email template handling components. The recommended remediation approach involves upgrading to patched versions of Magento 2.1.18, 2.2.9, or 2.3.2, which contain the necessary security fixes to prevent the injection of malicious javascript code. Additional protective measures should include implementing web application firewalls to detect and block suspicious javascript payloads, establishing strict access controls and privilege management for email template functionality, and conducting regular security audits of user input handling mechanisms. Organizations should also consider implementing content security policies to prevent execution of unauthorized scripts, and establish monitoring procedures to detect unauthorized modifications to email templates. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws, and represents a significant concern from an ATT&CK perspective under the technique of web shell execution and credential access through web application vulnerabilities. The security implications extend to potential compliance violations under data protection regulations such as GDPR and PCI DSS due to the exposure of customer data and system integrity compromises.