Invision Power Board Cross-site Scripting

Invision Community (aka IPS Community Suite or IP-Board) before 4.6.5.1 allows stored XSS, with resultant code execution, because an uploaded file can be placed in an IFRAME element within user-generated content. For code execution, the attacker can rely on the ability of an admin to install widgets, disclosure of the admin session ID in a Referer header, and the ability of an admin to use the templating engine (e.g., Edit HTML). (2021-08-17, CVE-2021-39250)

Stored XSS in Invision Power Board versions 3.3.1 - 3.4.8 leads to Remote Code Execution. (2019-03-02, CVE-2019-8278)

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>