CVE-2022-1997 in RosarioSIS
Summary
by MITRE • 06/08/2022
Cross-site Scripting (XSS) - Stored in GitHub repository francoisjacquet/rosariosis prior to 9.0.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/11/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-1997 represents a stored cross-site scripting flaw within the francoisjacquet/rosariosis GitHub repository, affecting versions prior to 9.0. This repository hosts an open-source school management system that provides functionalities for educational institutions to manage student records, attendance, grades, and other administrative tasks. The stored XSS vulnerability arises from insufficient input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the application's web interface, allowing malicious actors to inject persistent malicious scripts into the system's database. These scripts execute whenever legitimate users access affected pages, creating a significant security risk that can compromise user sessions and potentially lead to unauthorized access to sensitive educational data.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from improper sanitization of user-supplied input fields within the application's data handling processes. When users submit data through various forms and interfaces, the application fails to adequately validate or escape special characters that could be interpreted as HTML or JavaScript code. This flaw allows attackers to inject malicious scripts that are then stored in the database and subsequently executed in the context of other users' browsers. The vulnerability specifically impacts the application's ability to properly encode output data, particularly when displaying user-generated content in web pages. According to CWE classification, this represents a CWE-79: Cross-site Scripting vulnerability where the malicious payload is stored on the server and executed later during normal user interactions, distinguishing it from reflected XSS attacks.
The operational impact of CVE-2022-1997 extends beyond simple data theft, as it can enable attackers to perform session hijacking, steal user credentials, manipulate data within the application, and potentially escalate privileges within the school management system. Educational institutions relying on this software could face serious consequences including unauthorized access to student records, grade manipulation, and potential data breaches that violate privacy regulations such as FERPA in the united states or GDPR in european jurisdictions. The stored nature of this vulnerability means that once exploited, the malicious scripts remain persistent and can affect multiple users over extended periods. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1531: Establishing Persistence, as attackers can maintain access through persistent script injection, and T1566: Phishing, as the attack vector often involves social engineering to get users to submit malicious content.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate implementation of proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms throughout the application's codebase. Developers should implement comprehensive sanitization of all user inputs using established libraries and frameworks that properly escape special characters before storing or displaying data. The application should adopt Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to prevent execution of unauthorized scripts and implement proper input length restrictions and character set validation. Additionally, regular security code reviews and automated vulnerability scanning should be integrated into the development lifecycle to prevent similar issues from emerging in future releases. Organizations using this software should upgrade to version 9.0 or later where the vulnerability has been addressed, and conduct thorough security assessments of their deployed instances to ensure no malicious payloads have been previously injected into the system.