CVE-2026-88746 in IdcCMS
Summary
by MITRE • 09/21/2026
idccms V1.70 is vulnerable to Cross Site Scripting (XSS) in /admin/makeDiy_deal.php.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/21/2026
The vulnerability identified in idccms version 1.70 represents a classic instance of stored or reflected cross-site scripting, specifically located within the administrative endpoint makeDiy_deal.php. This component is part of an open-source content management system designed to facilitate website creation and management for small businesses and individuals. The presence of this flaw indicates that the application fails to adequately sanitize user-supplied input before processing it through dynamic web pages or storing it in a backend database for later retrieval. In the context of idccms, the makeDiy_deal.php script likely handles form submissions related to customizing deals or promotional content within the administrative interface. When an attacker submits malicious JavaScript code as part of these inputs, the application incorporates this unvalidated data directly into the HTTP response without performing proper encoding or validation checks. This allows the injected scripts to execute in the context of a victim user's browser session whenever that specific page is rendered with the tainted data.
From a technical perspective, this vulnerability aligns closely with CWE-79, which defines Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation commonly known as Cross-site Scripting. The root cause lies in the lack of robust input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the PHP script responsible for handling these administrative actions. If the application stores the malicious payload in a database to display it later on other pages or even on the same page upon redirection, it constitutes stored XSS, which is particularly dangerous because the attack does not require direct interaction with the victim beyond visiting a compromised link or simply having an active session where the admin panel is accessed by another user. If the script reflects the input immediately in the error messages or status updates without storage, it falls under reflected XSS, requiring social engineering to lure a target into clicking a crafted URL. In either scenario, the browser interprets the injected code as legitimate content from the trusted domain of idccms, bypassing same-origin policy restrictions that normally isolate web applications from each other.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe due to its location within an administrative interface. Administrative panels typically grant elevated privileges and access to sensitive data such as user credentials, site configurations, customer information, and financial records associated with the deals managed by the system. An attacker exploiting this XSS flaw can perform a variety of malicious actions on behalf of authenticated administrators. These actions include stealing session cookies or authentication tokens via JavaScript that exfiltrates them to an external server controlled by the attacker. With valid session identifiers, the attacker can hijack administrative sessions and gain full control over the CMS without needing password credentials. Furthermore, the vulnerability enables keylogging capabilities where malicious scripts record keystrokes entered into forms within the admin panel, potentially capturing database passwords or other sensitive configuration details. Attackers may also manipulate page content to display phishing pages that mimic legitimate login screens to harvest additional credentials from unsuspecting administrators who visit the compromised site.
This type of attack is categorized under MITRE ATT&CK technique T1059, specifically Command and Scripting Interpretation via JavaScript within a web browser context. It facilitates lateral movement if multiple administrative accounts exist on the same platform or allows for persistent access through session hijacking. The exploitation does not require complex binary manipulation or network-level vulnerabilities but relies entirely on social engineering and the misconfiguration of input handling logic in server-side scripts. For organizations relying on idccms, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to data integrity and confidentiality, potentially leading to regulatory non-compliance if customer personal information is compromised through such client-side attacks.
Mitigation strategies must focus on implementing strict input validation and output encoding practices within the application codebase. Developers should ensure that all user-supplied inputs are validated against a whitelist of expected characters before being processed or stored in databases. When rendering data back to the browser, it is critical to apply context-aware HTML entity encoding to neutralize special characters such as angle brackets, ampersands, and quotes that could be interpreted as part of executable script tags. Additionally, implementing Content Security Policy headers can provide a layer of defense by restricting the sources from which scripts are allowed to load or execute, thereby mitigating the impact even if an injection attempt succeeds. Upgrading to patched versions of idccms where this issue has been resolved is the most effective remediation step for existing deployments. For systems that cannot be immediately updated, deploying a Web Application Firewall can help detect and block common XSS payloads in HTTP requests targeting the vulnerable endpoint makeDiy_deal.php until permanent code fixes are applied.