A grave Vulnerability was discovered in the DotNetNuke Platform
A serious stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability has been identified within the widely-utilized DotNetNuke (DNN) Platform, raising alarms for numerous websites reliant on this content management system.
This critical flaw, designated as CVE-2025-59545 and evaluated with an alarming severity score of 9.1 out of 10, is present in every version of the DNN Platform prior to 10.1.0. It provides attackers with the capability to execute harmful scripts via the platform’s Prompt module.
The root of the security breach lies in the manner in which DNN’s Prompt module processes commands that yield raw HTML output.
Although the platform is designed to sanitize user-generated data before showcasing it in entry forms, the Prompt module circumvents these standard safety measures by interpreting command outputs as executable HTML.
This oversight creates a precarious avenue for cybercriminals to inject and run malicious scripts within the trusted environment of the application.
The implications of this vulnerability are severe for organizations utilizing affected DNN installations, especially in scenarios where exploits are executed within super-user contexts.
Attackers can craft deceptive inputs infused with embedded scripts or malicious markup that, when executed through specific Prompt commands, are rendered directly in browsers without adequate security validation.
Comprehensive security research conducted by GitHub analysts has revealed this critical vulnerability, underscoring the necessity for ongoing platform vigilance against emerging threats.
This vulnerability is particularly attractive to cybercriminals due to its relatively low complexity regarding attack vectors and the minimal privileges required for exploitation, coupled with the lack of user interaction.
Successful exploitation could jeopardize system confidentiality, integrity, and availability across altered security domains.
Exploitation Mechanism and Attack Vectors
The exploitation mechanism is rooted in a fundamental design flaw regarding how the Prompt module manages command execution and output rendering.
Upon submitting specially crafted input through the module, the system is unable to differentiate between genuine HTML output and nefarious script content.
The vulnerability surfaces when particular commands process untrusted data, returning it as HTML, thus fundamentally bypassing the application’s security safeguards.
This attack vector follows a stored XSS pattern, categorized within the CWE-79 weakness classification.
Malicious payloads can be persistently embedded within the system, executing whenever compromised content is accessed.
This element of persistence significantly amplifies the vulnerability’s impact, affecting not only the initial target but potentially every subsequent user who interacts with the tainted content.
Organizations utilizing vulnerable DNN Platform versions are strongly urged to promptly update to version 10.1.0, which encompasses extensive patches aimed at rectifying this critical security flaw.
Source link: Cybersecuritynews.com.
