YesWiki Cross-Site Scripting Scanner

YesWiki is an open-source wiki software used by organizations and individual users to create collaborative spaces on the web. It is particularly popular for community projects and educational purposes, allowing easy content creation and management. Due to its collaborative nature and flexibility, it is used in various settings including academic, professional, and personal environments. The software includes modules and extensions that expand its functionality, making it adaptable for multiple use cases. Users appreciate its simplicity in setup and customization, which encourages widespread adoption across different user bases. With active contributions from a global community of developers, YesWiki continues to evolve, supporting more features and improving security.

The Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users. This type of vulnerability is critical as it enables attackers to execute scripts in the context of another user's browser, stealing cookies, session tokens, or other sensitive information. XSS vulnerabilities can be introduced when user input is improperly managed and executed as code in a web application. It poses significant security risks by allowing attackers to hijack user accounts, change user settings, and facilitate phishing attacks. By exploiting XSS vulnerabilities, attackers can gain unauthorized access and potentially compromise additional systems associated with the vulnerable web application.

The vulnerability discovered in YesWiki affects any instance with versions prior to 07 July 2022, specifically targeting the 'id' parameter in the Accueil URL. When this parameter is not appropriately sanitized, it permits injection of arbitrary scripts by an attacker. This vulnerability resides in a section of the code that handles web page rendering based on dynamic user input, exposing it to XSS attacks. The proof-of-concept for this vulnerability includes passing a script through the URL that gets executed in the victim’s browser. Successful exploitation requires crafting a malicious URL that users are tricked into visiting. The impact of this vulnerability is fundamentally due to insufficient validation and escaping of user input on affected instances.

The potential effects of exploiting this XSS vulnerability in YesWiki are significant. A successful attack could allow malicious scripts to run within the user's browser without their knowledge, thereby accessing or stealing sensitive data. Attackers can impersonate users and perform actions on their behalf, such as altering account settings or installing additional malware. They can also create convincing phishing pages to further deceive and exploit users visiting the affected wiki site. Additionally, attackers may propagate their attack by tricking users into submitting malicious inputs. The repercussions could include a loss of data integrity, unauthorized information disclosure, and damage to trust and service availability.

REFERENCES

• https://huntr.dev/bounties/de4db96c-2717-4c0e-b7aa-eee756ca19d3/