Overview
A critical security vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-65540, has been discovered in xmall version 1.1. This vulnerability involves multiple Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) flaws stemming from the application’s failure to properly sanitize or encode user-supplied data before rendering it in HTML. This oversight allows attackers to inject and execute malicious scripts within the context of vulnerable pages.
Technical Details
The XSS vulnerabilities are present in user input fields such as username and description. These fields accept user-provided data, which is then directly included in HTML output without adequate sanitization. An attacker can exploit this by injecting malicious JavaScript code into these fields. When a user views the profile or any other page displaying the injected data, the malicious script will be executed in their browser, potentially allowing the attacker to:
- Steal user cookies and session tokens.
- Deface the website.
- Redirect users to malicious websites.
- Execute arbitrary code in the user’s browser.
Example Injection:
<script>alert('XSS Vulnerability!')</script>CVSS Analysis
As the reported CVSS score is currently N/A, a proper evaluation is needed. However, given the nature of XSS vulnerabilities, the severity is likely to be categorized as Medium to High depending on the scope of the exploit and the level of user privileges affected. A detailed CVSS score will depend on factors like the attack vector (network vs. local), attack complexity, privileges required, user interaction, scope, confidentiality impact, integrity impact, and availability impact.
Possible Impact
The impact of these XSS vulnerabilities can be significant. Successful exploitation could lead to:
- Account Takeover: Attackers can steal user credentials and take control of accounts.
- Data Theft: Sensitive information can be stolen from users and the application itself.
- Website Defacement: The appearance and functionality of the website can be altered, damaging the reputation of the platform.
- Malware Distribution: Users can be redirected to malicious websites and infected with malware.
Mitigation and Patch Steps
To mitigate the risk posed by CVE-2025-65540, the following steps are recommended:
- Input Sanitization: Implement robust input sanitization techniques to remove or neutralize potentially malicious characters and code from user-supplied data.
- Output Encoding: Encode all user-supplied data before rendering it in HTML. Use appropriate encoding functions (e.g., HTML entity encoding) to prevent the browser from interpreting the data as executable code.
- Web Application Firewall (WAF): Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to detect and block XSS attacks.
- Update xmall: Check for an official patch from the xmall developers and update your installation to the latest version as soon as it becomes available. Monitor the xmall GitHub issue tracker for updates.
- Content Security Policy (CSP): Implement a strict Content Security Policy (CSP) to control the sources from which the browser is allowed to load resources, effectively reducing the attack surface for XSS vulnerabilities.
References
- CVE ID: CVE-2025-65540
- GitHub Issue: https://github.com/Exrick/xmall/issues/101
