CVE-2024-41446
📋 TL;DR
This stored XSS vulnerability in Alkacon OpenCMS v17.0 allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into the image copyright attribute when creating or modifying articles. When users view affected articles, the scripts execute in their browsers, potentially stealing session cookies or performing unauthorized actions. Organizations using OpenCMS v17.0 for content management are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Alkacon OpenCMS
📦 What is this software?
Opencms by Alkacon
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could steal administrator session cookies, gain administrative access to the CMS, deface websites, or redirect users to malicious sites, potentially compromising the entire content management system and associated data.
Likely Case
Attackers inject malicious scripts that steal user session cookies or credentials when users view compromised articles, leading to account takeover and unauthorized content manipulation.
If Mitigated
With proper input validation and output encoding, malicious scripts are neutralized, preventing execution while maintaining normal CMS functionality.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated access to create/modify articles. Public proof-of-concept demonstrates payload injection into image copyright fields.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Not specified
Vendor Advisory: http://alkacon.com
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Check vendor website for security updates. 2. Apply any available patches. 3. Verify fix by testing image parameter input validation.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation Filter
allImplement server-side input validation to sanitize image copyright field inputs, removing or encoding HTML/script tags.
Implement custom validation in OpenCMS image handling modules to strip script tags and encode special characters.
Content Security Policy
allImplement strict Content Security Policy headers to prevent inline script execution and restrict script sources.
Add 'Content-Security-Policy: script-src 'self'' to HTTP headers.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Disable image copyright field functionality or make it read-only for non-administrative users.
- Implement web application firewall rules to block XSS payload patterns in image parameter requests.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Test by creating an article with an image containing a script payload in the copyright field (e.g., <script>alert('XSS')</script>) and check if it executes when viewing the article.Check Version:
Check OpenCMS version in administration panel or via system information page.Verify Fix Applied:
Attempt the same payload injection; successful fix should display the script as plain text without execution.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to article creation/modification endpoints with script-like content in image parameters
- Multiple failed login attempts followed by article modifications
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing script tags or JavaScript in image copyright fields
- Unusual outbound connections from CMS server after article views
SIEM Query:
source="opencms" AND (http_method="POST" AND uri_path="/articles" AND http_body CONTAINS "<script>")