CVE-2023-6027 in PHPMemcachedAdmin
Summary
by MITRE • 11/30/2023
A critical flaw has been identified in elijaa/phpmemcachedadmin affecting version 1.3.0, specifically related to a stored XSS vulnerability. This vulnerability allows malicious actors to insert a carefully crafted JavaScript payload. The issue arises from improper encoding of user-controlled entries in the "/pmcadmin/configure.php" parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/21/2023
The vulnerability CVE-2023-6027 represents a critical stored cross-site scripting flaw in elijaa/phpmemcachedadmin version 1.3.0 that poses significant security risks to web applications utilizing this administration tool. This vulnerability specifically affects the "/pmcadmin/configure.php" endpoint where user-controlled input is not properly sanitized or encoded before being stored and subsequently rendered in the web interface. The flaw enables attackers to inject malicious JavaScript code through configuration parameters that are then executed in the context of other users who access the affected administration interface.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and output encoding practices within the application's configuration handling mechanism. When administrators or users provide input through the configure.php interface, the application fails to properly escape or encode special characters that could be interpreted as HTML or JavaScript markup. This improper handling creates a persistent XSS vector where malicious payloads can be stored in the application's configuration and executed whenever the affected page is loaded. The vulnerability is classified as a stored XSS due to the persistence of the malicious code within the application's data storage rather than requiring immediate execution through a single request.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it can enable attackers to perform a wide range of malicious activities including session hijacking, credential theft, and data exfiltration. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can gain unauthorized access to the administration interface, potentially leading to complete compromise of the memcached server configuration and underlying infrastructure. The stored nature of the vulnerability means that the malicious code remains active until manually removed from the configuration, creating a persistent threat that can affect multiple users over extended periods. This vulnerability directly aligns with CWE-79 which describes improper neutralization of input during web page generation, and represents a significant risk to organizations relying on this administration tool for memcached server management.
Security mitigations for CVE-2023-6027 should prioritize immediate patching of the affected elijaa/phpmemcachedadmin version 1.3.0 to address the root cause of the input sanitization failure. Organizations should implement proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms that escape special characters in all user-controlled data before storage and rendering. The implementation of Content Security Policy headers can provide additional defense-in-depth measures to prevent execution of unauthorized scripts even if the primary vulnerability is not fully patched. Regular security audits of web applications should include thorough testing of input handling mechanisms to identify similar encoding vulnerabilities, particularly in administrative interfaces where privileged access can be gained. Additionally, network segmentation and access controls should be implemented to limit exposure of the affected administration interface to only authorized personnel, reducing the attack surface for potential exploitation attempts.