A recently discovered cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability, listed under the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures title CVE-2022-43084, has been found in the admin-add-vehicle.php file of Vehicle Booking System v1.. This vulnerability allows attackers to execute arbitrary web scripts or HTML code by injecting a specially crafted payload into the "v_name" parameter. In this post, we'll discuss the exploit details, provide a code snippet to demonstrate the vulnerability, and link to original references for further reading.

Exploit details

This attack vector takes advantage of an insufficient output encoding done for the "v_name" parameter within the admin-add-vehicle.php file. By injecting a crafted payload, an attacker can manipulate the rendered HTML on the target page and insert malicious JavaScript or other web script code. This can lead to a variety of compromised security issues, such as stealing sensitive information, session hijacking, or defacing the web application.

Here's a sample code snippet demonstrating the vulnerability

<!-- Vehicle Booking System v1. - admin-add-vehicle.php -->
<?php
    $v_name = $_POST['v_name'];

    // Insufficient output encoding allows for XSS vulnerability.
    echo "<tr><td><input type='text' name='v_name' value='".htmlspecialchars($v_name, ENT_QUOTES)."'>";
?>

The problematic line is the echo statement, which directly outputs the user-submitted input without proper encoding or filtering.

To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker can inject a payload such as

<script>alert('XSS')</script>

This will cause a JavaScript alert with the message "XSS" to be executed whenever the page is loaded. This is just a simple example; an attacker could use far more malicious payloads to achieve their objectives.

For more information on this vulnerability, please refer to the following original references

- NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD) entry
- Exploit-DB entry

Effect of the exploit

When an attacker successfully exploits this vulnerability, the consequences can range from minor nuisance to significant damage. Some examples of attacks resulting from this type of XSS exploit include:

Update the affected version of Vehicle Booking System v1. to the latest secure version.

2. Make sure that user-provided data is properly encoded or filtered, as shown in the corrected code snippet below:

<!-- Vehicle Booking System v1. - Fixed admin-add-vehicle.php -->
<?php
    $v_name = $_POST['v_name'];

    // Proper output encoding prevents XSS vulnerability.
    echo "<tr><td><input type='text' name='v_name' value='".htmlspecialchars($v_name, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8')."'>";
?>

3. Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to limit the sources of allowed content, which can help prevent exploitation of XSS vulnerabilities.

In conclusion

The CVE-2022-43084 XSS vulnerability in Vehicle Booking System v1. presents significant security risks to web applications. By understanding how the vulnerability occurs and taking the necessary steps to remediate it, developers can better protect their systems from potential attacks. Staying informed about new vulnerabilities and learning from existing ones is essential to maintaining the security and integrity of web applications in today's ever-changing threat landscape.

Timeline

Published on: 11/01/2022 14:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 11/02/2022 12:48:00 UTC