CVE-2022-44025 in nGeniusONE
Summary
by MITRE • 01/27/2023
An issue was discovered in NetScout nGeniusONE 6.3.2 before P10. It allows Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), issue 2 of 6.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/28/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-44025 represents a critical reflected cross-site scripting flaw within NetScout nGeniusONE version 6.3.2 prior to patch level P10. This security weakness exists in the network monitoring and analytics platform that organizations use to analyze network traffic and identify performance issues. The nGeniusONE platform serves as a comprehensive network visibility solution that collects, processes, and presents network data to network administrators and security professionals. The reflected XSS vulnerability specifically manifests in the application's handling of user input parameters that are not properly sanitized or validated before being returned to users in HTTP responses. This particular issue constitutes the second of six identified vulnerabilities within the same version, highlighting a concerning pattern of security weaknesses in the product's input validation mechanisms.
The technical exploitation of this reflected XSS vulnerability occurs when an attacker crafts a malicious URL containing crafted script code that gets executed in the victim's browser when the URL is visited. The flaw arises from the application's failure to properly escape or encode user-supplied data before incorporating it into HTML responses. When users navigate to a maliciously crafted URL containing script payloads, the web application reflects this malicious input back to the user's browser without adequate sanitization. This creates an environment where attackers can execute arbitrary JavaScript code within the context of the victim's session, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or redirection to malicious sites. The vulnerability's classification under CWE-79 indicates a failure in input validation and output encoding, specifically related to reflected cross-site scripting attacks where malicious scripts are reflected off the web server to the user's browser.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it provides attackers with significant privileges to manipulate network monitoring data and potentially compromise network security operations. Network administrators who use nGeniusONE for monitoring critical infrastructure are at risk of having their sessions hijacked or their monitoring capabilities compromised through this vulnerability. An attacker could potentially redirect users to malicious sites, steal session cookies, or inject malicious code that could alter the network monitoring data displayed to administrators. This poses a serious threat to network security operations since nGeniusONE is often used for critical network visibility and troubleshooting tasks. The vulnerability could also enable attackers to gain unauthorized access to sensitive network information or disrupt network monitoring operations by manipulating the displayed data. Organizations relying on this platform for network security monitoring and incident response may experience significant operational disruption if attackers exploit this vulnerability to compromise the integrity of network monitoring data.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2022-44025 should prioritize immediate patching to the affected nGeniusONE version, upgrading to patch level P10 or later where the vulnerability has been addressed. Organizations should implement additional defensive measures including input validation at the application level, output encoding of user-supplied data, and web application firewalls to detect and block malicious payloads. Network segmentation and access controls should be reviewed to limit potential attack vectors, while security awareness training for administrators can help identify suspicious URLs or activities. The implementation of content security policies can provide an additional layer of protection against reflected XSS attacks by restricting script execution within the application. According to ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability maps to T1566.001 (Phishing: Spearphishing Attachment) and T1584.002 (Compromise Infrastructure: DNS Server Compromise) as attackers may use this vulnerability to establish persistent access or redirect users to malicious sites. Organizations should also consider implementing automated vulnerability scanning and monitoring solutions to detect similar issues in other network monitoring tools and applications within their environment. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify potential attack surfaces and ensure proper input validation mechanisms are in place across all network monitoring and management platforms.