This article is a part of our Vulnerability Database (back to index)
Cross-site Scripting occurrences in Shortdescription
ShortDescription is a MediaWiki extension that provides local short description support. A cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists in versions prior to 2.3.4. On a wiki that has the ShortDescription enabled, XSS can be triggered on any page or the page with the action=info parameter, which displays the shortdesc property. This is achieved using the wikitext `{{SHORTDESC:<img src=x onerror=alert()>}}`. This issue has a patch in version 2.3.4. (2022-01-24, CVE-2022-21710)
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>