CVE-2020-23243 in Navigate
Summary
by MITRE • 07/27/2021
Cross Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in NavigateCMS NavigateCMS 2.9 via the name="wrong_path_redirect" feature.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/05/2021
The CVE-2020-23243 vulnerability represents a cross site scripting flaw within NavigateCMS version 2.9 that specifically exploits the name="wrong_path_redirect" feature. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross Site Scripting, which is a critical security weakness that allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into web applications viewed by other users. The flaw exists in the content management system's handling of user input through the redirect functionality, creating an avenue for malicious actors to execute arbitrary code within the context of a victim's browser session.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs when NavigateCMS processes the wrong_path_redirect parameter without adequate sanitization or output encoding of user-supplied data. When a user provides input through this parameter, the system fails to properly validate or escape the content before rendering it in the web page context. This allows an attacker to inject malicious javascript payloads that will execute whenever the affected page is loaded or accessed by another user. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it leverages legitimate application functionality to deliver malicious code, making detection more challenging for security monitoring systems.
From an operational perspective, this XSS vulnerability creates significant risk for organizations using NavigateCMS 2.9 as it can lead to session hijacking, credential theft, data exfiltration, and potential lateral movement within the network. Attackers can exploit this flaw to steal user authentication cookies, redirect victims to malicious sites, or inject malware into the browsing environment. The impact extends beyond simple script execution as it can compromise the integrity of the entire web application and potentially provide attackers with persistent access to the system. The vulnerability is classified as a medium to high severity issue according to CVSS scoring methodologies and poses a substantial threat to web application security.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2020-23243 should include immediate patching of NavigateCMS to version 2.10 or later where the vulnerability has been addressed through proper input validation and output encoding. Organizations should implement comprehensive input sanitization measures that validate all user-supplied data against whitelisted patterns and employ proper output encoding techniques before rendering any dynamic content. The principle of least privilege should be applied to limit the impact of potential exploitation, and web application firewalls can provide additional protection layers. Security teams should also conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to identify similar weaknesses in other application components. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001 for initial access through malicious web content and T1071.001 for application layer protocol usage, making it a critical target for both defensive and offensive security operations.