CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2023-39512 — Cacti is an open source operational monitoring and fault management framework

Medium CVSS 6.1

Cacti is an open source operational monitoring and fault management framework. Affected versions are subject to a Stored Cross-Site-Scripting (XSS) Vulnerability which allows an authenticated user to poison data stored in the _cacti_'s database. These data will be viewed by administrative _cacti_ accounts and execute JavaScript code in the victim's browser at view-time. The script under `data_sources.php` displays the data source management information (e.g. data source path, polling configuration, device name related to the datasource etc.) for different data visualizations of the _cacti_ app. _CENSUS_ found that an adversary that is able to configure a malicious device name, can deploy a stored XSS attack against any user of the same (or broader) privileges. A user that possesses the _General Administration>Sites/Devices/Data_ permissions can configure the device names in _cacti_. This configuration occurs through `http://<HOST>/cacti/host.php`, while the rendered malicious payload is exhibited at `http://<HOST>/cacti/data_sources.php`. This vulnerability has been addressed in version 1.2.25. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to update should manually filter HTML output.

Severity
Medium
CVSS
6.1 (3.1)
Published
2023-09-05
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
javascript/npm
Weaknesses
CWE-79

Affected products

  • cacti / cacti
  • fedoraproject / fedora / 37
  • fedoraproject / fedora / 38

Matched remediation archetype

Cross-site scripting and unsafe browser output

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Check exposure

  • Trace reflected, stored, and DOM-derived untrusted values into HTML, attributes, URLs, styles, scripts, and client-side template sinks.
  • Identify affected origins, authenticated user roles, sensitive browser capabilities, and where content is shared across tenants.
  • Review framework escaping, rich-text sanitization, legacy templates, and client-side rendering paths.

Remediate safely

  • Use context-aware framework output encoding and safe DOM APIs; keep untrusted data out of executable contexts.
  • Sanitize intentionally supported markup with a maintained allowlist policy and validate URLs and attributes separately.
  • Update affected rendering components and add tests for every output context using inert sentinel markup.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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