CVE-2023-44486 in Online Blood Donation Management System
Summary
by MITRE • 11/01/2023
Online Blood Donation Management System v1.0 is vulnerable to multiple Store Cross-Site Scripting vulnerabilities. The 'address' parameter of the users/register.php resource is copied into the users/member.php document as plain text between tags. Any input is echoed unmodified in the users/member.php response.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/01/2023
The CVE-2023-44486 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within the Online Blood Donation Management System version 1.0 that exposes users to significant security risks. This vulnerability specifically affects the user registration and member profile functionality of the system, creating an attack vector that can be exploited by malicious actors to inject malicious scripts into the web application. The flaw manifests when the application fails to properly sanitize user input, particularly in the address field of the registration process, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary JavaScript code within the context of other users' browsers.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from improper input validation and output encoding practices within the web application's codebase. When users register through the users/register.php endpoint, the address parameter is collected and subsequently transferred to the users/member.php page without adequate sanitization or encoding. This direct data flow creates an environment where any malicious input is rendered as plain text within HTML tags, effectively bypassing the application's security controls. The vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting, which is classified as a fundamental web application security weakness that allows attackers to inject client-side scripts into web pages viewed by other users.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data theft or defacement, as it enables attackers to perform session hijacking, steal sensitive user information, and potentially gain unauthorized access to the blood donation management system. Attackers can craft malicious payloads that exploit the reflected XSS vulnerability to execute scripts that capture cookies, redirect users to malicious sites, or even modify the application's functionality. Given that this is a blood donation management system, the potential consequences are particularly severe as it handles sensitive medical information and personal data of donors and recipients. The vulnerability can be exploited through various attack vectors including social engineering campaigns, where attackers send malicious links to unsuspecting users who then inadvertently execute the injected scripts.
The attack surface for this vulnerability is relatively narrow but impactful, as it specifically targets the registration and member profile pages of the application. Security practitioners should consider this vulnerability in the context of the ATT&CK framework's T1566 technique for initial access through spearphishing, as attackers could leverage this flaw to deliver malicious payloads to users who are registering for blood donation services. Mitigation strategies must include implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms, specifically employing context-aware encoding for different data types and HTML contexts. Organizations should also implement Content Security Policy headers, utilize secure coding practices, and conduct regular security testing to prevent similar vulnerabilities from persisting in their applications. The vulnerability highlights the critical importance of proper data sanitization and input validation in web applications, particularly those handling sensitive information such as medical data, as even seemingly innocuous fields like address can become attack vectors when not properly secured.