Vulnerabilities > CVE-2009-1938 - Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability in Joomla

047910
CVSS 4.3 - MEDIUM
Attack vector
NETWORK
Attack complexity
MEDIUM
Privileges required
NONE
Confidentiality impact
NONE
Integrity impact
PARTIAL
Availability impact
NONE
network
joomla
CWE-79
nessus
exploit available

Summary

Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Joomla! 1.5.x through 1.5.10 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified vectors related to database output and the frontend administrative panel.

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • Cross Site Scripting through Log Files
    An attacker may leverage a system weakness where logs are susceptible to log injection to insert scripts into the system's logs. If these logs are later viewed by an administrator through a thin administrative interface and the log data is not properly HTML encoded before being written to the page, the attackers' scripts stored in the log will be executed in the administrative interface with potentially serious consequences. This attack pattern is really a combination of two other attack patterns: log injection and stored cross site scripting.
  • Embedding Scripts in Non-Script Elements
    This attack is a form of Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) where malicious scripts are embedded in elements that are not expected to host scripts such as image tags (<img>), comments in XML documents (< !-CDATA->), etc. These tags may not be subject to the same input validation, output validation, and other content filtering and checking routines, so this can create an opportunity for an attacker to tunnel through the application's elements and launch a XSS attack through other elements. As with all remote attacks, it is important to differentiate the ability to launch an attack (such as probing an internal network for unpatched servers) and the ability of the remote attacker to collect and interpret the output of said attack.
  • Embedding Scripts within Scripts
    An attack of this type exploits a programs' vulnerabilities that are brought on by allowing remote hosts to execute scripts. The attacker leverages this capability to execute scripts to execute his/her own script by embedding it within other scripts that the target software is likely to execute. The attacker must have the ability to inject script into script that is likely to be executed. If this is done, then the attacker can potentially launch a variety of probes and attacks against the web server's local environment, in many cases the so-called DMZ, back end resources the web server can communicate with, and other hosts. With the proliferation of intermediaries, such as Web App Firewalls, network devices, and even printers having JVMs and Web servers, there are many locales where an attacker can inject malicious scripts. Since this attack pattern defines scripts within scripts, there are likely privileges to execute said attack on the host. Of course, these attacks are not solely limited to the server side, client side scripts like Ajax and client side JavaScript can contain malicious scripts as well. In general all that is required is for there to be sufficient privileges to execute a script, but not protected against writing.
  • Cross-Site Scripting in Error Pages
    An attacker distributes a link (or possibly some other query structure) with a request to a third party web server that is malformed and also contains a block of exploit code in order to have the exploit become live code in the resulting error page. When the third party web server receives the crafted request and notes the error it then creates an error message that echoes the malformed message, including the exploit. Doing this converts the exploit portion of the message into to valid language elements that are executed by the viewing browser. When a victim executes the query provided by the attacker the infected error message error message is returned including the exploit code which then runs in the victim's browser. XSS can result in execution of code as well as data leakage (e.g. session cookies can be sent to the attacker). This type of attack is especially dangerous since the exploit appears to come from the third party web server, who the victim may trust and hence be more vulnerable to deception.
  • Cross-Site Scripting Using Alternate Syntax
    The attacker uses alternate forms of keywords or commands that result in the same action as the primary form but which may not be caught by filters. For example, many keywords are processed in a case insensitive manner. If the site's web filtering algorithm does not convert all tags into a consistent case before the comparison with forbidden keywords it is possible to bypass filters (e.g., incomplete black lists) by using an alternate case structure. For example, the "script" tag using the alternate forms of "Script" or "ScRiPt" may bypass filters where "script" is the only form tested. Other variants using different syntax representations are also possible as well as using pollution meta-characters or entities that are eventually ignored by the rendering engine. The attack can result in the execution of otherwise prohibited functionality.

Exploit-Db

descriptionJoomla! Prior to 1.5.11 Multiple Cross Site Scripting and HTML Injection Vulnerabilities. CVE-2009-1938. Webapps exploit for php platform
idEDB-ID:33022
last seen2016-02-03
modified2009-06-03
published2009-06-03
reporterAirton Torres
sourcehttps://www.exploit-db.com/download/33022/
titleJoomla! < 1.5.11 - Multiple Cross-Site Scripting and HTML Injection Vulnerabilities

Nessus

NASL familyFreeBSD Local Security Checks
NASL idFREEBSD_PKG_BDCCD14B5AAC11DEA438003048590F9E.NASL
descriptionSecunia reports : Some vulnerabilities have been reported in Joomla!, which can be exploited by malicious users to conduct script insertion attacks and by malicious people to conduct cross-site scripting attacks. Certain unspecified input is not properly sanitised before being used. This can be exploited to insert arbitrary HTML and script code, which will be executed in a user
last seen2020-06-01
modified2020-06-02
plugin id39427
published2009-06-17
reporterThis script is Copyright (C) 2009-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.
sourcehttps://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/39427
titleFreeBSD : joomla -- multiple vulnerabilities (bdccd14b-5aac-11de-a438-003048590f9e)
code
#%NASL_MIN_LEVEL 80502
#
# (C) Tenable Network Security, Inc.
#
# The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were  
# extracted from the FreeBSD VuXML database :
#
# Copyright 2003-2018 Jacques Vidrine and contributors
#
# Redistribution and use in source (VuXML) and 'compiled' forms (SGML,
# HTML, PDF, PostScript, RTF and so forth) with or without modification,
# are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
# 1. Redistributions of source code (VuXML) must retain the above
#    copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
#    disclaimer as the first lines of this file unmodified.
# 2. Redistributions in compiled form (transformed to other DTDs,
#    published online in any format, converted to PDF, PostScript,
#    RTF and other formats) must reproduce the above copyright
#    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer
#    in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
#    distribution.
# 
# THIS DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
# AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
# THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
# PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS
# BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY,
# OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT
# OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR
# BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY,
# WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE
# OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS DOCUMENTATION,
# EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
#

include("compat.inc");

if (description)
{
  script_id(39427);
  script_version("1.12");
  script_cvs_date("Date: 2019/08/02 13:32:40");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2009-1938", "CVE-2009-1939", "CVE-2009-1940");
  script_xref(name:"Secunia", value:"35278");

  script_name(english:"FreeBSD : joomla -- multiple vulnerabilities (bdccd14b-5aac-11de-a438-003048590f9e)");
  script_summary(english:"Checks for updated package in pkg_info output");

  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"synopsis", 
    value:"The remote FreeBSD host is missing a security-related update."
  );
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"description", 
    value:
"Secunia reports :

Some vulnerabilities have been reported in Joomla!, which can be
exploited by malicious users to conduct script insertion attacks and
by malicious people to conduct cross-site scripting attacks.

Certain unspecified input is not properly sanitised before being used.
This can be exploited to insert arbitrary HTML and script code, which
will be executed in a user's browser session in the context of an
affected site when the malicious data is displayed.

Certain unspecified input passed to the user view of the com_users
core component is not properly sanitised before being returned to the
user. This can be exploited to execute arbitrary HTML and script code
in a user's browser session in context of an affected site.

Input passed via certain parameters to the 'JA_Purity' template is not
properly sanitised before being returned to the user. This can be
exploited to execute arbitrary HTML and script code in a user's
browser session in context of an affected site."
  );
  # http://www.joomla.org/announcements/release-news/5235-joomla-1511-security-release-now-available.html
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"http://www.nessus.org/u?e94ed320"
  );
  # https://vuxml.freebsd.org/freebsd/bdccd14b-5aac-11de-a438-003048590f9e.html
  script_set_attribute(
    attribute:"see_also",
    value:"http://www.nessus.org/u?c3ca0c74"
  );
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:"Update the affected package.");
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N");
  script_cwe_id(79);

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:freebsd:freebsd:joomla15");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:freebsd:freebsd");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2009/06/03");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2009/06/16");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2009/06/17");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2009-2019 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");
  script_family(english:"FreeBSD Local Security Checks");

  script_dependencies("ssh_get_info.nasl");
  script_require_keys("Host/local_checks_enabled", "Host/FreeBSD/release", "Host/FreeBSD/pkg_info");

  exit(0);
}


include("audit.inc");
include("freebsd_package.inc");


if (!get_kb_item("Host/local_checks_enabled")) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_ENABLED);
if (!get_kb_item("Host/FreeBSD/release")) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, "FreeBSD");
if (!get_kb_item("Host/FreeBSD/pkg_info")) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_LIST_MISSING);


flag = 0;

if (pkg_test(save_report:TRUE, pkg:"joomla15<1.5.11")) flag++;

if (flag)
{
  if (report_verbosity > 0) security_warning(port:0, extra:pkg_report_get());
  else security_warning(0);
  exit(0);
}
else audit(AUDIT_HOST_NOT, "affected");