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Cross-site Scripting occurrences in Advanced Electron Forum
An XSS issue was discovered in Advanced Electron Forum (AEF) v1.0.9. A persistent XSS vulnerability is located in the `FTP Link` element of the `Private Message` module. The editor of the private message module allows inserting links without sanitizing the content. This allows remote attackers to inject malicious script code payloads as a private message (aka pmbody). The injection point is the editor ftp link element and the execution point occurs in the message body context on arrival. The request method to inject is POST with restricted user privileges. (2018-06-29, CVE-2018-13000)
Why Cross-site Scripting can be dangerous
Cross site scripting is an attack where a web page executes code that is injected by an adversary. It usually appears, when users input is presented. This attack can be used to impersonate a user, take over control of the session, or even steal API keys.
The attack can be executed e.g. when you application injects the request parameter directly into the HTML code of the page returned to the user:
https://server.com/confirmation?message=Transaction+Complete
what results in:
<span>Confirmation: Transaction Complete</span>
In that case the message can be modified to become a valid Javascript code, e.g.:
https://server.com/confirmation?message=<script>dangerous javascript code here</script>
and it will be executed locally by the user's browser with full access to the user's personal application/browser data:
<span>Confirmation: <script>dangerous javascript code here</script></span>