Source: cve@mitre.org
Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in Pulse Pro CMS 1.7.2 allow remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the (1) d parameter in a blocks action and (2) post_id parameter in an edit-post action to index.php.
Pulse Pro CMS 1.7.2 is vulnerable to multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, allowing attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users. This can lead to account compromise, data theft, and website defacement. Successful exploitation requires no authentication and can be easily automated.
The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding within Pulse Pro CMS 1.7.2. Specifically, the application fails to properly sanitize user-supplied data passed through the d parameter in the blocks action and the post_id parameter in the edit-post action of index.php. This allows attackers to inject arbitrary HTML or JavaScript code. When these parameters are rendered in the application's output, the injected code executes within the context of the victim's browser, leading to XSS. The root cause is a lack of input validation and output encoding (e.g., HTML escaping) on user-controlled parameters before they are displayed on the webpage. This allows attackers to craft malicious payloads that are interpreted by the browser.
While no specific APT groups are directly linked to this CVE, the ease of exploitation makes it a target for opportunistic attackers and script kiddies. The lack of specific targeting makes it a high-probability attack vector. This vulnerability is not listed on the CISA KEV at the time of this report, but the age and ease of exploitation warrant consideration for inclusion.
Web server logs: Monitor for unusual URL patterns containing script tags or JavaScript code in the d and post_id parameters of requests to index.php.
Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS): Implement rules to detect XSS payloads in HTTP requests, specifically targeting the vulnerable parameters.
Web Application Firewalls (WAF): Configure a WAF to block requests containing XSS payloads.
Network traffic analysis: Analyze network traffic for suspicious HTTP requests containing JavaScript code or HTML tags in the URL parameters.
Content Security Policy (CSP) violations: Monitor for CSP violations, which may indicate XSS attempts.
Upgrade to a patched version of Pulse Pro CMS (if available).
Implement input validation: Sanitize all user-supplied input to remove or encode potentially malicious characters (e.g., <, >, &, ', ").
Implement output encoding: Encode all output to prevent the browser from interpreting user-supplied data as HTML or JavaScript. Use HTML encoding (escaping) when displaying user-supplied data within HTML tags, and JavaScript encoding when displaying data within JavaScript code.
Use a Web Application Firewall (WAF): Deploy a WAF to filter malicious requests.
Implement a Content Security Policy (CSP): Configure a CSP to restrict the sources from which the browser can load resources (e.g., scripts, stylesheets, images). This can mitigate the impact of XSS attacks.
Regularly scan the website for vulnerabilities using automated tools.
Review and audit the codebase for potential XSS vulnerabilities.