Cross-site scripting in Discourse

1) Cross-site scripting

EUVDB-ID: #VU56196

Risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 4.7 [CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2021-39161

CWE-ID: CWE-79 - Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Exploit availability: No

Description

The disclosed vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.

The vulnerability exists due to insufficient sanitization of user-supplied data in the category name field. A remote authenticated attacker can trick the victim to follow a specially crafted link and execute arbitrary HTML and script code in user's browser in context of vulnerable website.

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may allow a remote attacker to steal potentially sensitive information, change appearance of the web page, perform phishing and drive-by-download attacks.

Mitigation

Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Discourse: 0.8.0 - 2.7.7

External links

http://github.com/discourse/discourse/security/advisories/GHSA-xhmc-9jwm-wqph

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote authenticated user via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.