CVE-2019-7940 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 modify store currency options 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 significant security risk that allows authenticated attackers to persist malicious code within the system. The flaw exists in the handling of currency options within the administrative interface, where user input is not properly sanitized before being stored and subsequently rendered to other administrators. The vulnerability affects multiple versions of both Magento Open Source and Commerce platforms, with specific patch versions required to mitigate the issue. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws where untrusted data is improperly incorporated into web pages.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability allows an authenticated user with sufficient privileges to modify store currency settings to inject malicious javascript code into the system. When other administrators access the affected admin panel sections, the stored malicious script executes in their browsers, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or further exploitation. The attack vector is particularly dangerous because it leverages the trust relationship between administrators and the system, enabling attackers to execute code in the context of privileged users. This stored XSS vulnerability enables attackers to bypass normal security controls that would typically protect against reflected XSS attacks, as the malicious code is permanently stored within the application's database.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable attackers to escalate privileges, steal administrative sessions, or gain access to sensitive customer data. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could modify currency conversion rates, manipulate financial data, or redirect users to malicious sites. The attack requires only an authenticated user with currency modification privileges, which is often granted to store administrators or developers. This makes the vulnerability particularly concerning as it can be exploited by insiders or compromised accounts with administrative access, potentially leading to significant financial and data compromise. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for script execution and T1566 for credential access through social engineering.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately apply the vendor-provided patches to their Magento installations, with specific attention to version numbers mentioned in the CVE description. The recommended mitigations include implementing proper input validation and output encoding for all user-supplied data within the admin panel, particularly in currency and configuration management sections. Additional defensive measures should include restricting administrative privileges to only essential personnel, implementing multi-factor authentication for admin accounts, and conducting regular security audits of administrative interfaces. Security monitoring should focus on unusual currency modification activities and any suspicious administrative user behavior. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of validating and sanitizing all user input at multiple layers within web applications, as well as the critical need for proper privilege management in e-commerce platforms where financial data is processed.