Dspace Cross-site Scripting

DSpace open source software is a repository application which provides durable access to digital resources. dspace-jspui is a UI component for DSpace. The JSPUI "Request a Copy" feature does not properly escape values submitted and stored from the "Request a Copy" form. This means that item requests could be vulnerable to XSS attacks. This vulnerability only impacts the JSPUI. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability. (2022-08-01, CVE-2022-31192)

DSpace open source software is a repository application which provides durable access to digital resources. dspace-jspui is a UI component for DSpace. The JSPUI spellcheck "Did you mean" HTML escapes the data-spell attribute in the link, but not the actual displayed text. Similarly, the JSPUI autocomplete HTML does not properly escape text passed to it. Both are vulnerable to XSS. This vulnerability only impacts the JSPUI. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this issue. (2022-08-01, CVE-2022-31191)

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>