In this long read post, we will discuss the details of the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) entry, CVE-2023-26446. This security issue arises due to a lack of proper sanitization and escaping of the user's clientID at "application passwords." By exploiting this vulnerability, an attacker could potentially execute malicious script code within the victim's context. This can lead to session hijacking or the triggering of unwanted actions via the web interface and API.

To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would require temporary access to the user's account or lure a user to a compromised account. Thankfully, no publicly available exploits are known for this vulnerability.

We will delve into the details of the vulnerability, the code snippet provided, and the original references. Additionally, we will present the actions taken to sanitize the user-controllable clientID parameter and prevent exploitation.

The vulnerable code snippet is shown below

// Adding the clientID to the DOM without sanitization or escaping.
document.getElementById('clientIDContainer').innerHTML = userClientID;

As we can see in the above code, there is a lack of proper sanitization or escaping of the userClientID before it's being added to the DOM. This is what allows the attacker to potentially execute malicious script code within the victim's context.

Solution

To prevent this vulnerability from being exploited, we need to sanitize and escape the user-controllable clientID parameter. The improved code snippet is shown below:

// Sanitizing and escaping the user-controllable clientID parameter.
const sanitizedClientID = encodeURIComponent(userClientID);
document.getElementById('clientIDContainer').innerHTML = sanitizedClientID;

Now, the user-controllable clientID parameter is properly sanitized and escaped, which will prevent the execution of malicious script code within the victim's context.

For further information about this security issue, you can review the following original references

1. CVE Reference for CVE-2023-26446
2. National Vulnerability Database (NVD) Entry for CVE-2023-26446

Exploit Details

As mentioned earlier, to exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would require temporary access to the user's account or lure a user to a compromised account. There are no publicly available exploits for this vulnerability, and now with the proper sanitization of the user-controllable clientID parameter, the risk of exploitation is minimized.

Conclusion

In conclusion, CVE-2023-26446 is a security issue that could potentially lead to session hijacking or the triggering of unwanted actions via the web interface and API. By properly sanitizing and escaping the user-controllable clientID parameter, we can mitigate this vulnerability and protect users from any malicious script code that might be executed within their context. Even though there are no publicly available exploits for this vulnerability, it is still crucial to apply the appropriate security measures to ensure the safety of users' accounts and data.

Timeline

Published on: 08/02/2023 13:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 08/07/2023 18:14:00 UTC