CVE-2023-2948 Scanner

OpenEMR is widely used by healthcare organizations worldwide to manage electronic medical records ensuring efficient patient care management. It is utilized by hospitals, individual practitioners, and clinics to streamline workflows, deliver better patient care, and maintain comprehensive patient records. With features supporting billing, practice management, and patient scheduling, OpenEMR is designed to facilitate all aspects of clinical operations. Healthcare professionals depend on its functionalities to provide timely and secure information access. It enables seamless integration with other health systems and fosters improved patient-doctor communication.

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) is a prevalent web vulnerability that allows attackers to inject scripts into web pages viewed by users, potentially stealing cookies, session tokens, or other sensitive information. The specific XSS vulnerability in OpenEMR before version 7.0.1 arises from improper input validation, allowing scripts to be executed in the context of the affected site. Being a reflected XSS, this vulnerability can be triggered when a user clicks on a specially crafted link. If exploited, it could lead to unauthorized actions being performed on behalf of a logged-in user. Administrators are urged to patch and prevent unauthorized data access.

The technical manifestation of this XSS vulnerability lies in the flawed sanitization process in one of OpenEMR's PHP scripts. The endpoint `/library/custom_template/share_template.php` does not correctly validate or escape user input, specifically through the `list_id` parameter. This shortfall allows an attacker to embed a harmful script which, when the hyperlink is clicked, will execute in the victim's browser context. The lack of robust content security policies exacerbates the issue, leaving OpenEMR instance susceptible to exploitation of user trust. This vulnerability highlights the critical need for stringent input validation on all user-accessible endpoints.

Exploitation of the identified XSS vulnerability in OpenEMR could result in numerous adverse outcomes. Attackers may execute scripts that steal user session information, manipulate webpage displays, or perform other actions mimicking a user's credentials. Sensitive data can be compromised, resulting in a breach of patient privacy and potential loss of data integrity. In healthcare settings, this can undermine trust and potentially lead to regulatory non-compliance, penalties, or lawsuits. Strong cybersecurity measures and prompt patching can mitigate such severe impacts.

REFERENCES

• https://huntr.com/bounties/3842486f-38b1-4150-9f78-b81d0ae580c4
• https://github.com/openemr/openemr/commit/af1ecf78d1342519791bda9d3079e88f7d859015
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-2948