CVE-2024-51697 in Doofinder Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 11/09/2024
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation (XSS or 'Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in Doofinder allows Reflected XSS.This issue affects Doofinder: from n/a through 0.5.4.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/28/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-51697 represents a critical security flaw in the Doofinder web application that enables reflected cross-site scripting attacks. This weakness occurs during the web page generation process where input parameters are not properly sanitized or neutralized before being rendered in the user interface. The vulnerability specifically affects versions of Doofinder ranging from the initial release through version 0.5.4, indicating a persistent issue that has existed for several iterations of the software.
This reflected XSS vulnerability stems from the application's failure to adequately validate and sanitize user input that is subsequently incorporated into web page content. When malicious actors craft specific input strings and inject them into the application's parameters, these inputs are reflected back to users without proper encoding or filtering mechanisms. The flaw resides in the web application's input handling process where the system does not properly neutralize potentially dangerous characters or scripts that could be executed in the context of a user's browser session. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-79 as "Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation," which is a well-documented weakness that allows attackers to inject malicious code into web pages viewed by other users.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it provides attackers with the capability to execute arbitrary scripts in the context of a victim's browser session. This could enable unauthorized access to user data, session hijacking, credential theft, and other malicious activities that compromise user privacy and application security. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by crafting malicious URLs that contain script payloads, which are then reflected back to users who click on these links. The reflected nature of the attack means that the malicious code does not need to be stored on the server but is instead executed directly from the user's browser when the vulnerable page is accessed. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001 for "Phishing: Spearphishing Attachment" and T1059.001 for "Command and Scripting Interpreter: Visual Basic" when considering the execution vectors and attack methodologies.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2024-51697 should focus on implementing proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms throughout the Doofinder application. Organizations should immediately upgrade to the latest version of Doofinder where this vulnerability has been patched and remediated. Additionally, developers should implement comprehensive input sanitization routines that filter or escape special characters in user-provided data before rendering it in web pages. The implementation of Content Security Policy headers can provide an additional layer of protection against XSS attacks by restricting the sources from which scripts can be loaded. Security teams should also conduct regular vulnerability assessments and code reviews to identify similar input handling issues that could lead to other XSS vulnerabilities within the application stack. The fix should ensure that all user-supplied input is properly escaped or encoded according to the context where it is rendered, whether in HTML content, JavaScript contexts, or CSS attributes, following the principle of least privilege and defense in depth security measures.