CVE-2025-63638
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2025-63638 is a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Sourcecodester AI-Powered To-Do List App v1.0 that allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript into task titles and descriptions. When users view or interact with these tasks, the malicious code executes in their browsers, potentially compromising their accounts or sessions. This affects all users of the vulnerable application version.
💻 Affected Systems
- Sourcecodester AI-Powered To-Do List App
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could steal session cookies, perform account takeover, redirect users to malicious sites, or execute actions on behalf of authenticated users.
Likely Case
Session hijacking, credential theft, defacement of the application interface, or redirection to phishing pages.
If Mitigated
Limited to UI disruption or minor data exposure if input validation and output encoding are partially implemented.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires the attacker to have access to create tasks (typically authenticated), but the payload executes for any user viewing the malicious task.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Not available
Vendor Advisory: Not available
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
No official patch exists. Implement input validation and output encoding as described in workarounds.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement Input Validation
allAdd server-side validation to reject or sanitize HTML/JavaScript in task title and description fields.
// Example JavaScript validation: taskTitle.replace(/[<>"']/g, '')
Implement Output Encoding
allEncode user-controlled data before rendering in HTML context using appropriate encoding functions.
// Example: encodeURIComponent(taskDescription) or use DOMPurify.sanitize()
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement a web application firewall (WAF) with XSS protection rules
- Restrict user permissions to limit who can create tasks
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Create a task with payload: <script>alert('XSS')</script> in title or description. If alert executes when viewing, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
Check application version in source code or documentation (typically in readme or config files).Verify Fix Applied:
Attempt the same test after implementing fixes; alert should not execute and payload should be displayed as plain text.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual task creation with script tags or JavaScript patterns in title/description fields
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing script tags or JavaScript in POST data to task creation endpoints
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND ("<script>" OR "javascript:" OR "onerror=" OR "onload=") AND uri_path="/create_task"