As technology advances and web applications become more sophisticated, so do the ways in which hackers and malicious actors exploit vulnerabilities for their gain. One of the most common web application security risks is Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), which has been a persistent issue for developers and website administrators. Today, we'll discuss a particular XSS vulnerability found in Enhavo CMS v.13.1 (CVE-2024-25874) that can be exploited by attackers to execute arbitrary web scripts or HTML through the New/Edit Article module.

Vulnerability Overview

CVE-2024-25874 refers to a Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the New/Edit Article module of Enhavo CMS v.13.1. Enhavo is an open-source content management system (CMS) built on top of the Symfony Framework. The vulnerability specifically resides in the "Create Tag" text field, where an attacker can inject a crafted payload to perform malicious actions.

Log in to Enhavo CMS as an authenticated user with the capability to create or edit articles.

2. Navigate to the New/Edit Article module.

Save the article with the malicious tag in it.

When other users view or interact with the article containing the malicious tag, their browsers will execute the injected script. Depending on the payload, attackers can steal session cookies, redirect users to phishing sites, or perform actions on their behalf without consent. Also, this vulnerability could be used in combination with other vulnerabilities to perform more complex attacks.

Here's an example of a basic payload for this XSS vulnerability

<script>alert("XSS Vulnerability - CVE-2024-25874")</script>

For malicious actors, they can craft more sophisticated payloads that can cause more severe damage. You can see other potential payloads at the following repositories:

- OWASP XSS Filter Evasion Cheat Sheet
- XSS Payloads Repository by PayloadsAllTheThings

Original References

The Enhavo CMS GitHub repository can be found here: Enhavo CMS Repository

In addition, the official announcement of this vulnerability and its mitigation can be found at the following link: Enhavo CMS Security Advisory

Vulnerability Mitigation

The developers behind Enhavo CMS released a patch to address this vulnerability in version .13.2.

Follow these steps to mitigate XSS in your Enhavo CMS deployment

1. Update your Enhavo CMS installation to the latest version. This can be done by following the steps in the Enhavo CMS Update Guide.
2. Perform a thorough review of your existing articles and tags to identify any instances where this vulnerability may have already been exploited. This can include scanning for suspicious or unfamiliar HTML and script tags.

Conclusion

As we've seen, even in well-established projects such as Enhavo CMS, vulnerabilities can still surface, posing a great risk to websites and users alike. To protect your web application, it's crucial to stay informed about potential threats, apply security updates, and practice secure coding. By being proactive and taking these steps, you can minimize the chances of falling victim to malicious attacks like the ones described in this article, the CVE-2024-25874 XSS vulnerability.

Timeline

Published on: 02/22/2024 14:15:46 UTC
Last modified on: 02/22/2024 19:07:27 UTC