CVE-2025-56018
📋 TL;DR
This stored XSS vulnerability in SourceCodester's Pharmacy Product Management System allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into category names, which are then executed when viewed by administrators or other users. The vulnerability affects all users of the web application version 1.0, potentially compromising user sessions and enabling further attacks.
💻 Affected Systems
- SourceCodester Web-based Pharmacy Product Management System
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could steal administrator session cookies, take over admin accounts, deface the website, or redirect users to malicious sites, potentially leading to complete system compromise.
Likely Case
Attackers inject malicious scripts to steal user session cookies or credentials, enabling unauthorized access to the pharmacy management system.
If Mitigated
With proper input validation and output encoding, the impact is limited to failed injection attempts with no successful exploitation.
🎯 Exploit Status
The Medium article provides detailed exploitation steps. Attack requires authentication to access category management functionality.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Not available
Vendor Advisory: Not available
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
No official patch available. Implement input validation and output encoding in the category management module.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement Input Validation
allAdd server-side validation to sanitize category name inputs, rejecting or encoding special characters.
Implement Output Encoding
allApply proper HTML encoding when displaying category names to prevent script execution.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict access to category management functionality to trusted administrators only
- Implement a web application firewall (WAF) with XSS protection rules
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Attempt to inject a simple XSS payload like <script>alert('XSS')</script> into the category name field and check if it executes when viewing categories.Check Version:
Check the application version in the admin panel or configuration files.Verify Fix Applied:
Test the same XSS payload after implementing fixes - it should be properly encoded and not execute.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual category name entries containing script tags or JavaScript code
- Multiple failed login attempts followed by category modifications
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests with suspicious payloads in category name parameters
- Outbound connections to unknown domains after viewing categories
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND (category_name CONTAINS "<script>" OR category_name CONTAINS "javascript:")