Cross-site Scripting in Apache Struts

Description

When the Struts2 debug mode is turned on, under certain conditions an arbitrary script may be executed in the 'Problem Report' screen. Also if JSP files are exposed to be accessed directly it's possible to execute an arbitrary script.

It is generally not advisable to have debug mode switched on outside of the development environment. Debug mode should always be turned off in production setup. Also never expose JSPs files directly and hide them inside WEB-INF folder or define dedicated security constraints to block access to raw JSP files.

Struts >= 2.3.20 is not vulnerable to this attack. We recommend upgrading to Struts 2.3.20 or higher.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
medium
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2022-05-14 01:57:02 UTC
Updated
2023-02-01 05:04:26 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2022-11-03 23:01:19 UTC
NVD published
2017-09-25

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
1.20% 78.61%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
6.1 3.0
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
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')

Affected packages (1)

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

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
maven org.apache.struts:struts2-core < 2.3.20 2.3.20

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence