CVE-2025-50690
📋 TL;DR
A reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in SpatialReference.org allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript via search query parameters. When victims visit specially crafted URLs, the malicious code executes in their browser session, potentially compromising their accounts. This affects all users of SpatialReference.org versions before May 17, 2025.
💻 Affected Systems
- OSGeo/spatialreference.org
⚠️ Manual Verification Required
This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.
Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).
🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.
- Review the CVE details at NVD
- Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
- Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
- Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers hijack user sessions, steal authentication cookies, redirect to phishing sites, or perform actions as the victim including data theft and account takeover.
Likely Case
Attackers create phishing links that steal session cookies or redirect users to malicious sites when they click on crafted URLs.
If Mitigated
With proper input validation and output encoding, malicious scripts are neutralized before reaching user browsers, preventing execution.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires victims to click malicious links but doesn't require authentication. Attack complexity is low due to reflected nature.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 2025-05-17 (commit 2120adfa17ddd535bd0f539e6c4988fa3a2cb491)
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/OSGeo/spatialreference.org
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Update to commit 2120adfa17ddd535bd0f539e6c4988fa3a2cb491 or later. 2. Deploy the updated code to production. 3. Verify search functionality properly sanitizes input.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Web Application Firewall (WAF)
allDeploy a WAF with XSS protection rules to block malicious payloads in query parameters.
Content Security Policy (CSP)
allImplement strict CSP headers to restrict script execution sources and mitigate XSS impact.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement input validation to sanitize search parameters before processing.
- Enable HTTP-only and secure flags on session cookies to limit cookie theft.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Test search functionality with XSS payloads like <script>alert('XSS')</script> in query parameters and check if script executes.Check Version:
Check git commit hash or deployment date against 2025-05-17.Verify Fix Applied:
After patching, test with same XSS payloads to confirm they are properly sanitized and don't execute.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual search queries containing script tags or JavaScript code in URL parameters.
- Multiple failed XSS attempts in web server logs.
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests with suspicious query strings containing script tags or JavaScript functions.
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND (url="*<script>*" OR url="*javascript:*")