CVE-2023-45746 in Movable Type 7
Summary
by MITRE • 10/30/2023
Cross-site scripting vulnerability in Movable Type series allows a remote authenticated attacker to inject an arbitrary script. Affected products/versions are as follows: Movable Type 7 r.5405 and earlier (Movable Type 7 Series), Movable Type Advanced 7 r.5405 and earlier (Movable Type 7 Series), Movable Type Premium 1.58 and earlier, Movable Type Premium Advanced 1.58 and earlier, Movable Type Cloud Edition (Version 7) r.5405 and earlier, and Movable Type Premium Cloud Edition 1.58 and earlier.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/21/2025
This cross-site scripting vulnerability in the Movable Type series represents a critical security flaw that enables remote authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary scripts within the context of affected users' browsers. The vulnerability exists due to insufficient input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the web application's processing pipeline, allowing malicious actors with valid credentials to inject malicious code that persists in the application's user interface. The affected versions span multiple product lines including the standard Movable Type 7 series, Advanced and Premium variants, as well as their respective cloud editions, indicating a widespread impact across the product portfolio.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from improper sanitization of user-supplied data that flows through the application's content management system. When authenticated users submit content or interact with the application's administrative interfaces, the system fails to adequately escape or encode special characters that could be interpreted as HTML or JavaScript markup. This weakness falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting, specifically manifesting as a stored XSS vulnerability where malicious scripts are permanently stored on the server and executed whenever affected pages are loaded. The attack requires only authentication privileges, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited by insiders or compromised accounts.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, potentially enabling attackers to perform a wide range of malicious activities including session hijacking, credential theft, data exfiltration, and privilege escalation within the application environment. An attacker could craft malicious content that, when viewed by other users, would execute scripts to steal session cookies or redirect users to phishing sites. The vulnerability affects the entire user management and content creation workflow, potentially compromising the integrity of the entire content management system. According to ATT&CK framework, this represents a technique categorized under T1566.001 - Phishing: Spearphishing Attachment, where the XSS payload could be delivered through maliciously crafted content or comments that users are tricked into viewing.
Mitigation strategies should focus on immediate patch application to the affected versions, with all organizations running impacted software urgently upgrading to the latest available releases. Input validation mechanisms must be strengthened to properly sanitize all user-supplied data before processing, with output encoding implemented at every point where user content is rendered in the browser. Organizations should implement Content Security Policy headers to limit script execution capabilities and consider implementing web application firewalls to detect and block suspicious payloads. Additionally, regular security audits and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in other applications within the infrastructure, while user access controls should be strictly enforced to minimize the risk of unauthorized access to administrative functions.