CVE-2020-21082 in maccms
Summary
by MITRE • 09/14/2021
A cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the background administrator article management module of Maccms 8.0 allows attackers to steal administrator and user cookies via crafted payloads in the text fields for Chinese and English names.
If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/17/2021
The vulnerability CVE-2020-21082 represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw discovered in the Maccms 8.0 content management system, specifically within its background administrator article management module. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting and demonstrates how insufficient input validation can lead to severe security implications in web applications. The flaw exists in the handling of user-supplied data within text fields designated for Chinese and English names, creating an attack surface where malicious actors can inject malicious scripts into the application's administrative interface.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the application's failure to properly sanitize and validate user input before rendering it within the web page context. When administrators or users submit content containing specially crafted payloads in the name fields, the system does not adequately filter or escape these inputs, allowing malicious JavaScript code to execute within the context of the victim's browser session. This occurs because the application directly incorporates user-provided data into dynamic HTML content without appropriate security measures such as output encoding or content security policies. The attack vector specifically targets the administrative article management interface, where the vulnerability becomes exploitable when administrators view or interact with the compromised content.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft, as it enables attackers to gain unauthorized access to administrative sessions and user accounts through cookie theft. Successful exploitation allows threat actors to hijack active sessions and potentially escalate privileges within the application, as administrative cookies contain elevated access rights and permissions. This compromise can result in complete system takeover, data exfiltration, content manipulation, and persistent backdoor establishment within the web application environment. The vulnerability affects both administrators and regular users who interact with the compromised module, creating a broad attack surface that can be leveraged for various malicious activities including data breaches, service disruption, and unauthorized modifications to the content management system.
Security practitioners should implement multiple layers of mitigation strategies to address this vulnerability effectively. The primary remediation involves implementing comprehensive input validation and output encoding mechanisms throughout the application's data handling pipeline, specifically within the article management module where the vulnerability exists. Organizations should deploy proper content security policies to prevent unauthorized script execution and ensure that all user-supplied data undergoes sanitization before being processed or displayed. Additionally, implementing proper access controls and session management practices can limit the damage from successful exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 for credential access through social engineering and T1071 for application layer protocol usage, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where administrative privileges are compromised. Regular security audits, input validation testing, and application security assessments should be conducted to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities across the entire application stack.