WWBN AVideo: Stored XSS via unescaped Gallery category description

Description

Summary

AVideo stores category descriptions from user input and later renders category_description as raw HTML in the Gallery view. A user who can create or edit
categories can store JavaScript in a category description, which executes when another user views the affected Gallery/category page.

This is a stored XSS in the category description field, separate from previously fixed XSS issues in video titles or comments.

### Details

Source:

objects/categoryAddNew.json.php

```php
$objCat->setDescription($_POST['description']);

Storage setter:

objects/category.php

public function setDescription($description)
{
$this->description = $description;
}

  Sink:

  `plugin/Gallery/view/mainAreaCategory.php`

<div id="categoryDescription<?php echo $duid; ?>" style="display: none;"><?php echo $videos[0]['category_description']; ?></div>

  The value is rendered without `htmlspecialchars()`, `htmlentities()`, `HTMLPurifier`, or equivalent output encoding.

  ### PoC

  Prerequisites:

  - AVideo current master / v29.0
  - User account with permission to create or edit categories
  - Gallery plugin/view enabled
  - At least one video assigned to the affected category

  Steps:

  1. Log in as a user who can create or edit categories.
  2. Create or edit a category.
  3. Set the category description to:

<img src=x onerror=alert(document.domain)>

  4. Save the category.
  5. Assign at least one video to that category.
  6. Open the Gallery/category page that renders the category section.
  7. The payload is inserted into the page as raw HTML and JavaScript executes.

  ### Impact

  An attacker with category edit permission can execute JavaScript in the browser of users or administrators who view the affected Gallery/category page. This can
  be used to perform actions as the victim, steal same-origin data accessible to JavaScript, or abuse administrative UI actions if an administrator views the
  malicious category.

### Recommended fix

- Sanitize category descriptions on input with the same HTML policy used for video descriptions, or store plain text only.
- Encode on output:

```php
echo htmlspecialchars($videos[0][&#x27;category_description&#x27;], ENT_QUOTES, &#x27;UTF-8&#x27;);
  • If limited HTML is intended, run the description through HTMLPurifier before storage or before render.
  • Add regression tests for category description rendering in Gallery views.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
medium
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2026-06-04 18:46:31 UTC
Updated
2026-06-04 18:48:24 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2026-06-04 18:46:31 UTC
NVD published
2026-05-29

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.03% 10.67%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
5.4 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

Identifiers

CWEs

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

Credits

  • proochicken (reporter)

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
composer WWBN/AVideo <= 29.0

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence