CVE-2019-7944 in Magento
Summary
by MITRE
A stored cross-site scripting vulnerability exists in the product comments field 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. An authenticated user with privileges to the Return Product comments field can inject malicious javascript.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/20/2020
The vulnerability described in CVE-2019-7944 represents a critical stored cross-site scripting flaw within Magento e-commerce platforms that affects multiple versions across both Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce distributions. This security weakness resides specifically within the product comments field functionality, creating a persistent threat vector that can be exploited by authenticated users who possess sufficient privileges to access the return product comments section. The flaw enables attackers to inject malicious javascript code that persists in the system and executes whenever other users view the affected comments, making it a particularly dangerous vulnerability due to its stored nature and potential for widespread impact.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and output encoding mechanisms within Magento's comment handling system. When authenticated users with appropriate privileges submit comments through the return product functionality, the system fails to properly sanitize or encode the input data before storing it in the database. This insufficient sanitization allows malicious javascript payloads to be stored alongside legitimate comments, creating a persistent backdoor that executes in the context of other users' browsers when they access the affected product pages. The vulnerability operates under CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws, and it aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001 for initial access through malicious content, making it a prime candidate for social engineering attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft or defacement, as it provides attackers with the ability to execute arbitrary javascript code within the browser context of authenticated users. This capability enables sophisticated attack chains including session hijacking, credential theft, redirection to malicious sites, and potentially full system compromise if users have elevated privileges. The vulnerability affects a broad range of Magento versions, creating widespread exposure across both open source and commercial deployments, with the specific affected versions including Magento Open Source prior to 1.9.4.2, Magento Commerce prior to 1.14.4.2, 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. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to establish persistent access to the system, potentially compromising customer data, payment information, and business operations.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2019-7944 require immediate implementation of the vendor-provided security patches for all affected Magento versions, with priority given to organizations running the vulnerable software. System administrators should also implement additional protective measures including enhanced input validation at multiple layers, comprehensive output encoding for all user-generated content, and regular security scanning of stored data to identify potential malicious injections. Network monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual patterns in comment submissions, and access controls should be reviewed to ensure that only authorized personnel have privileges to submit comments in the return product functionality. Organizations should also conduct thorough security assessments of their Magento installations to identify any other potential injection points and implement proper web application firewall rules to filter out malicious javascript payloads. The remediation process should include comprehensive testing to ensure that the patches do not introduce compatibility issues with existing functionality while maintaining the security improvements necessary to protect against this stored XSS vulnerability.