Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) in Textpattern

High-Tech Bridge Security Research Lab discovered XSS vulnerability in Textpattern, which can be exploited to perform Cross-Site Scripting attacks against users of vulnerable application.

1. Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) in Textpattern: CVE-2014-4737

The vulnerability exists due to insufficient sanitization of input data passed via URI after “/textpattern/setup/index.php” script that is not deleted by default.

A remote attacker can trick a logged-in user to open a specially crafted link and execute arbitrary HTML and script code in browser in context of the vulnerable website. Further exploitation of the vulnerability may allow an attacker to perform phishing attacks and potentially gain unauthorized access to the website.

The following exploitation example uses the JavaScript “alert()” function to display “immuniweb” word:

http://[host]/textpattern/setup/index.php/%22%3E%3Cscript%3Ealert%28immuniwe b%29;%3C/script%3E/index.php