CVE-2025-40704
📋 TL;DR
A Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in OpenAtlas v8.9.0 allows remote attackers to inject malicious scripts via the 'name' parameter in POST requests to '/insert/edition'. This could enable session cookie theft from authenticated users. Organizations using OpenAtlas v8.9.0 from the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- OpenAtlas
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete account takeover through session cookie theft, leading to unauthorized access, data manipulation, or privilege escalation within the OpenAtlas system.
Likely Case
Session hijacking allowing attackers to impersonate authenticated users, potentially accessing sensitive cultural heritage data or modifying records.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper input validation, output encoding, and Content Security Policy (CSP) headers in place.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires the attacker to trick an authenticated user into submitting malicious input. Standard XSS exploitation techniques apply.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Unknown
Vendor Advisory: https://www.incibe.es/en/incibe-cert/notices/aviso/multiple-cross-site-scripting-xss-vulnerabilities-openatlas-acdh-ch
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Monitor the OpenAtlas GitHub repository for security updates. 2. Apply any available patches for v8.9.0 or upgrade to a fixed version when released. 3. Review and implement input validation and output encoding for all user-controllable parameters.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation Filter
allImplement server-side validation to sanitize the 'name' parameter in POST requests to '/insert/edition' by removing or encoding HTML/JavaScript characters.
Modify the relevant PHP/backend code to apply htmlspecialchars() or similar filtering to user input before processing.
Content Security Policy
allImplement a strict Content Security Policy header to prevent execution of inline scripts and unauthorized external resources.
Add 'Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'' to HTTP response headers.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with XSS protection rules to block malicious payloads.
- Restrict access to the '/insert/edition' endpoint to trusted IP addresses or networks only.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Test by submitting a payload like <script>alert('XSS')</script> in the 'name' parameter of a POST request to '/insert/edition' and check if it executes in a browser.Check Version:
Check the OpenAtlas version in the application interface or configuration files; vulnerable if version is exactly 8.9.0.Verify Fix Applied:
After applying fixes, repeat the test with the same payload; it should be properly encoded or blocked without execution.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to '/insert/edition' with script tags or JavaScript in parameters.
- Multiple failed authentication attempts followed by successful access to the endpoint.
Network Indicators:
- HTTP traffic containing malicious scripts in POST body parameters.
- Unexpected outbound connections from the server after exploitation.
SIEM Query:
source="web_server" AND uri="/insert/edition" AND (body CONTAINS "<script>" OR body CONTAINS "javascript:")