KafDrop Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Scanner

KafDrop is a web interface that helps to monitor and manage Kafka brokers and clusters. It is used by developers and system administrators for visualizing the state of a Kafka cluster, including topics, partitions, and their respective health. This software can be used in development and production environments to monitor message flows and perform troubleshooting. Particularly in organizations that rely heavily on Apache Kafka for their data streaming needs, KafDrop offers a convenient graphical view of various metrics and logs associated with Kafka topics. It is built to support the management of Kafka clusters to ensure optimal performance and data integrity. Due to its widespread use in handling critical business data, security vulnerabilities in KafDrop can pose significant risks.

The vulnerability in question, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users. XSS vulnerabilities arise when a web application receives inputs from a user which it sends unchecked to the web client's browser. This vulnerability can compromise the security of an application by allowing attackers to perform actions like session theft, phishing attacks, or spreading worms. Its exploitation can result in an attacker executing scripts in the context of any user visiting the affected page. Thus, careful validation of user inputs is necessary to avoid this vulnerability. The presence of an XSS vulnerability in KafDrop poses a risk of unauthorized actions being performed or data being disclosed.

Technically, the issue stems from unsanitized input being rendered as part of the server response. In KafDrop, when navigating to certain endpoints like "/topic/e'%22%3E%3Cimg%20src=x%20onerror=alert(2)%3E", the application does not escape or sanitize the input correctly, allowing the injection of arbitrary HTML/JavaScript. Potentially affected endpoints may not enforce proper input validation or output encoding, leading to execution of malicious scripts. XSS targets web pages where user-supplied data is dynamically included in the page's content. The lack of proper escaping lets an attacker craft a special payload that, when interpreted by the browser, gets executed that could lead to an arbitrary script being run. This leaves users of the application vulnerable to attacks.

When exploited, this vulnerability could allow attackers to execute scripts in another user's browser. Such scripts can hijack user sessions, deface web pages, or redirect users to malicious sites. Attackers can steal sensitive information, conduct phishing attacks, or impersonate users by accessing their session cookies. If administrators are targeted specifically, attackers might gain access to administrative functionalities or sensitive configurations. Furthermore, such vulnerabilities could provide a foothold for further intrusions into the network. Consequently, unpatched XSS vulnerabilities can potentially lead to significant data breaches.

REFERENCES

• https://github.com/HomeAdvisor/Kafdrop/issues/12
• https://www.blackhatethicalhacking.com/news/apache-kafka-cloud-clusters-expose-sensitive-data-for-large-companies