CVE-2019-7897 in Magento
Summary
by MITRE
A stored cross-site scripting vulnerability exists in the admin panel of Magento Open Source prior to 1.9.4.2, and Magento Commerce prior to 1.14.4.2, 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 customer configurations to inject malicious javascript.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/20/2020
This stored cross-site scripting vulnerability in Magento's admin panel represents a critical security flaw that allows authenticated attackers with customer configuration privileges to inject malicious javascript code. The vulnerability affects multiple versions of both Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce platforms, spanning from version 1.9.4.1 and earlier through various 2.1 and 2.2 releases. The flaw specifically resides within the admin panel functionality where user input is not properly sanitized before being rendered back to other administrators, creating a persistent XSS attack vector. According to CWE-79, this vulnerability falls under the category of Cross-Site Scripting, which occurs when applications fail to properly validate and escape user-supplied data before incorporating it into dynamically generated web pages. The attack exploits the trust relationship between the admin panel and authenticated users who possess customer configuration permissions, making it particularly dangerous as it leverages legitimate administrative access to compromise other administrators.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script injection, as it can be weaponized to perform sophisticated attacks against the Magento platform and its users. An attacker with access to customer configuration settings could inject malicious javascript that would execute in the browsers of other administrators who view the affected customer data. This creates a persistent threat where the malicious code remains active until the affected data is removed or the page is refreshed, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or redirection to malicious sites. The vulnerability's exploitation requires minimal privileges, as it only necessitates access to customer configuration functionality rather than full administrative control, making it particularly concerning for organizations with less restrictive access controls. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this as a form of credential access and defense evasion, as attackers can use the compromised admin sessions to maintain persistence and avoid detection while performing unauthorized actions.
Organizations utilizing affected Magento versions must implement immediate mitigations to protect their systems from exploitation. The most effective approach involves upgrading to the patched versions specified in the CVE advisory, which include Magento Open Source 1.9.4.2, Magento Commerce 1.14.4.2, Magento 2.1.18, Magento 2.2.9, and Magento 2.3.2. Additionally, implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the application code can provide defense-in-depth protection against similar vulnerabilities. Security teams should also consider implementing web application firewalls and monitoring for suspicious administrative activities that might indicate exploitation attempts. Regular security audits of user permissions and access controls are essential to prevent privilege escalation scenarios that could lead to exploitation of this vulnerability. Organizations should also establish incident response procedures specifically designed to handle XSS attacks targeting administrative interfaces, as these incidents can have far-reaching consequences for customer data and system integrity.