CVE-2020-36624 in text-helpers
Summary
by MITRE • 12/22/2022
A vulnerability was found in ahorner text-helpers up to 1.0.x. It has been declared as critical. This vulnerability affects unknown code of the file lib/text_helpers/translation.rb. The manipulation of the argument link leads to use of web link to untrusted target with window.opener access. The attack can be initiated remotely. Upgrading to version 1.1.0 is able to address this issue. The name of the patch is 184b60ded0e43c985788582aca2d1e746f9405a3. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component. The identifier of this vulnerability is VDB-216520.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/22/2023
This critical vulnerability in the ahorner text-helpers library affects version 1.0.x and resides within the lib/text_helpers/translation.rb file. The flaw represents a serious security risk that allows attackers to manipulate web links and gain access to window.opener functionality, creating potential for malicious navigation and cross-site scripting attacks. The vulnerability's critical severity classification indicates significant risk to applications using this library, particularly those that handle user-provided content or external link generation.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves improper handling of link arguments within the translation.rb component, where untrusted input is processed without adequate sanitization or validation. When a malicious user provides a crafted link parameter, the system fails to properly escape or validate the web link before rendering it in a browser context. This allows the attacker to inject malicious URLs that can leverage the window.opener access mechanism, potentially enabling phishing attacks, credential theft, or redirection to malicious sites that can exploit the opener relationship between windows.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple link manipulation, as it creates a pathway for attackers to compromise user sessions and potentially escalate privileges within affected applications. The remote exploitation capability means that malicious actors can trigger this vulnerability through web interfaces without requiring local system access. This aligns with CWE-601 URL Redirection to Untrusted Site vulnerability classification, which specifically addresses the risk of redirecting users to malicious domains through improper link handling.
The vulnerability's exploitation requires no special privileges and can be initiated through standard web-based attack vectors, making it particularly dangerous for web applications that process user input. Attackers can craft malicious links that, when processed by the vulnerable library, create dangerous opener relationships that persist across navigation events. This represents a significant risk to applications that implement user-generated content features, comment systems, or any functionality that processes external links.
Mitigation strategies should prioritize immediate upgrading to version 1.1.0, which contains the patch 184b60ded0e43c985788582aca2d1e746f9405a3 addressing the core issue. Organizations should also implement additional defensive measures including input validation, output encoding, and content security policy enforcement. The patch addresses the root cause by properly sanitizing link arguments and preventing the creation of dangerous opener relationships. Security teams should conduct comprehensive testing to ensure that all applications using this library are updated and that no other similar vulnerabilities exist in the application stack. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper input validation and output encoding in preventing web-based attacks, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1068 for exploit public-facing application and T1531 for establish persistence through web shell.