CVE-2023-4136 in CrafterCMS
Summary
by MITRE • 08/03/2023
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in CrafterCMS Engine on Windows, MacOS, Linux, x86, ARM, 64 bit allows Reflected XSS.This issue affects CrafterCMS: from 4.0.0 through 4.0.2, from 3.1.0 through 3.1.27.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/26/2023
The CVE-2023-4136 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within the CrafterCMS engine that specifically targets the web page generation process on multiple operating systems including Windows, macOS, Linux, and various processor architectures. This vulnerability manifests as improper neutralization of input data during web page construction, creating a pathway for malicious actors to inject and execute arbitrary scripts within the context of affected user sessions. The flaw affects specific version ranges of CrafterCMS, including versions from 4.0.0 through 4.0.2 and from 3.1.0 through 3.1.27, indicating a sustained issue that has persisted across multiple release cycles and demonstrates the complexity of input validation mechanisms within content management systems.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through reflected cross-site scripting attacks where malicious input is processed by the CMS engine and subsequently reflected back to users without proper sanitization or encoding. When users interact with maliciously crafted URLs or input parameters, the vulnerable CMS engine fails to adequately neutralize potentially dangerous characters or script sequences that are part of the input data. This allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript code that executes in the victim's browser, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or unauthorized actions performed on behalf of the user. The vulnerability operates at the web application level and specifically targets the content rendering pipeline where user input is incorporated into dynamically generated web pages.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution as it fundamentally compromises the security posture of any CrafterCMS implementation that has not been upgraded to a patched version. Attackers can leverage this flaw to perform session hijacking attacks, steal sensitive cookies, redirect users to malicious websites, or even escalate privileges within the CMS environment. The cross-site scripting nature means that the attack can be delivered through various vectors including email phishing campaigns, compromised website links, or social engineering tactics that direct users to maliciously crafted URLs. Organizations using affected versions of CrafterCMS face significant risk of data breaches, unauthorized content manipulation, and potential compromise of their entire content management infrastructure.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation by upgrading to patched versions of CrafterCMS that address this vulnerability, as recommended by the vendor and security advisories. The mitigation strategy should also include implementing robust input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the application layer, deploying web application firewalls to detect and block suspicious traffic patterns, and conducting comprehensive security testing of all CMS components. From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1566 which covers social engineering tactics including spearphishing with malicious attachments or links. Regular security assessments and monitoring of CMS components for similar input validation issues should be implemented to prevent future occurrences of this class of vulnerability.