CVE-2024-32563 in VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 04/18/2024
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS allows Reflected XSS.This issue affects VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS: from n/a through 1.6.7.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/05/2025
The CVE-2024-32563 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within the VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS software ecosystem, specifically targeting the web page generation process where input sanitization fails to properly neutralize user-supplied data. This vulnerability falls under the well-documented CWE-79 category for Cross-Site Scripting, which occurs when web applications fail to adequately validate or escape user input before incorporating it into dynamically generated web pages. The affected version range spanning from an unknown initial point through version 1.6.7 indicates this weakness has persisted across multiple releases, suggesting a fundamental design flaw in the input handling mechanisms rather than a one-time coding error.
The reflected XSS nature of this vulnerability means that malicious actors can inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users through the exploitation of improperly sanitized input parameters. When users navigate to a specially crafted URL containing malicious payloads, the web application reflects these scripts back to the user's browser, executing them in the context of the victim's session. This allows attackers to potentially steal session cookies, perform unauthorized actions on behalf of users, or redirect victims to malicious websites. The vulnerability specifically impacts the hotel booking engine's web interface where users might interact with booking forms, search parameters, or other dynamic content elements that process user input.
From an operational standpoint, this vulnerability poses significant risks to both end users and system administrators within hospitality environments. Hotel booking systems typically handle sensitive customer information including personal details, payment data, and reservation specifics, making them attractive targets for cybercriminals. The reflected nature of the attack means that exploitation can occur through simple phishing emails, compromised links, or social engineering campaigns that direct users to malicious URLs. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges, access administrative functions, or create persistent backdoors within the booking system, potentially compromising entire reservation databases and customer information repositories.
Security mitigation strategies should prioritize immediate patching of affected systems to version 1.6.8 or later, which likely contains the necessary input sanitization fixes. Organizations should implement comprehensive input validation mechanisms that employ proper output encoding techniques, particularly for parameters used in web page generation contexts. The principle of least privilege should be enforced where possible, limiting the execution scope of potentially malicious scripts within the browser environment. Additionally, implementing Content Security Policy headers can provide an additional layer of protection against script execution, while regular security audits and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in related web applications. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001 for Phishing and T1059.001 for Command and Scripting Interpreter, highlighting the multi-faceted attack vectors that can emerge from such input validation failures.