CVE-2025-23976 in Issuu Panel Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 01/31/2025
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Pedro Marcelo Issuu Panel allows Stored XSS. This issue affects Issuu Panel: from n/a through 2.1.1.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/06/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-23976 represents a critical security flaw in the Pedro Marcelo Issuu Panel application that combines cross-site request forgery with stored cross-site scripting capabilities. This dual nature of the vulnerability creates a particularly dangerous attack vector that can be exploited by malicious actors to gain unauthorized access to user accounts and execute arbitrary code within the context of the victim's browser. The vulnerability affects all versions of the Issuu Panel from the initial release through version 2.1.1, indicating a long-standing issue that has persisted across multiple iterations of the software.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate validation and sanitization of user input within the application's request handling mechanisms. Specifically, the application fails to properly implement anti-CSRF tokens or other protective measures when processing user-submitted data that is subsequently stored and rendered back to users. This allows attackers to craft malicious requests that, when executed, store malicious payloads within the application's database or storage mechanisms. The stored XSS component emerges when these malicious inputs are later displayed to other users without proper sanitization or encoding, creating a persistent threat that can affect multiple users over time.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to both individual users and organizations utilizing the Issuu Panel for document management and sharing activities. The combination of CSRF and stored XSS creates a scenario where attackers can establish persistent backdoors within the application environment, potentially leading to data exfiltration, account takeovers, and unauthorized modifications to stored content. The impact extends beyond simple session hijacking as the stored nature of the XSS means that victims who view affected content will automatically execute malicious scripts without any additional interaction required from them. This characteristic makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous for environments where multiple users regularly access shared content or where administrators might be tricked into viewing maliciously crafted content.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery, and CWE-79, which covers Cross-Site Scripting, demonstrating how the combination of these weaknesses creates an even more severe security risk. From the MITRE ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques such as T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for phishing, as attackers can leverage the stored XSS to create convincing phishing scenarios that appear legitimate to end users. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including the deployment of proper anti-CSRF token mechanisms, comprehensive input validation and sanitization, and regular security auditing of all user-submitted content. Additionally, implementing Content Security Policy headers and regular security training for administrators can help reduce the attack surface and mitigate potential exploitation of this vulnerability. The affected versions of Issuu Panel require urgent patching or remediation to address the root cause of the vulnerability and prevent exploitation by threat actors who may be actively targeting this specific weakness in the application's architecture.