CVE-2021-21283: Flarum/sticky Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-h3gg-7wx2-cq3h
CWE-79
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2021-21283 is a MODERATE cross-site scripting vulnerability (CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')) affecting Flarum/sticky libraries in the Packagist ecosystem. The issue involves xss in flarum sticky extension. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.1.0-beta.15.1.

CVE-2021-21283 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2021-21283
GHSA Identifier GHSA-h3gg-7wx2-cq3h
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
Affected Product Flarum/sticky
Package Ecosystem Packagist
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix CVE-2021-21283

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Flarum/sticky dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

flarum/sticky fixed: 0.1.0-beta.15.1
Upgrade flarum/sticky to 0.1.0-beta.15.1
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:

inspect dependencies for flarum/sticky

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2021-21283, inspect your project dependencies for Flarum/sticky:

inspect dependencies for flarum/sticky

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Flarum/sticky in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.1.0-beta.15.1), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting'), where the product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users. In Flarum/sticky, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

### Impact A change in release beta 14 of the Sticky extension caused the plain text content of the first post of a pinned discussion to be injected as HTML on the discussion list. The issue was discovered following an internal audit. Any HTML would be injected through Mithril's `m.trust()` helper. This resulted in an HTML injection where `<script>` tags would not be executed. However it was possible to run javascript from other HTML attributes, enabling a cross-site scripting (XSS) attack to be performed. Since the exploit only happens with the first post of a pinned discussion, an attacker would need the ability to pin their own discussion, or be able to edit a discussion that was previously pinned. On forums where all pinned posts are authored by your staff, you can be relatively certain the vulnerability has not been exploited. Forums where some user-created discussions were pinned can look at the first post edit date to find whether the vulnerability might have been exploited. Because Flarum doesn't store the post content history, you cannot be certain if a malicious edit was reverted. ### Patches The fix will be available in version v0.1.0-beta.16 with Flarum beta 16. The fix has already been back-ported to Flarum beta 15 as version v0.1.0-beta.15.1 of the Sticky extension. ### Workarounds Forum administrators can disable the Sticky extension until they are able to apply the update. The vulnerability cannot be exploited while the extension is disabled. ### References - [Release announcement](https://discuss.flarum.org/d/26042-security-update-to-flarum-sticky-010-beta151) - [Pull Request](https://github.com/flarum/sticky/pull/24) ### For more information If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please start a new discussion on our [support forum](https://discuss.flarum.org/t/support). If you discover a security vulnerability within Flarum, please send an e-mail to [security@flarum.org](mailto:security@flarum.org). All security vulnerabilities will be promptly addressed. More details can be found in our [security policy](https://github.com/flarum/core/security/policy).

CVE-2021-21283 Affected Flarum/sticky Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.1.0-beta.15.1
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
flarum/sticky
Packagist
≥ 0.1.0-beta.14
< 0.1.0-beta.15.1
0.1.0-beta.15.1

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2021-21283?
CVE-2021-21283 is a security vulnerability in Flarum/sticky involving XSS in Flarum Sticky extension under CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting').
Which Flarum/sticky versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.1.0-beta.15.1 across affected packages: flarum/sticky.
What version fixes CVE-2021-21283?
Upgrading to 0.1.0-beta.15.1 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is flarum/sticky affected?
Yes, flarum/sticky is affected in releases prior to 0.1.0-beta.15.1. Upgrade your dependency to 0.1.0-beta.15.1 or later.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2021-21283?
CVE-2021-21283 is classified under CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') (The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users.).
How can I check Packagist dependencies for CVE-2021-21283?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for flarum/sticky'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-h3gg-7wx2-cq3h",
  "modified" : "2021-01-26T20:41:58Z",
  "published" : "2021-01-29T18:13:41Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2021-21283" ],
  "summary" : "XSS in Flarum Sticky extension",
  "details" : "### Impact\nA change in release beta 14 of the Sticky extension caused the plain text content of the first post of a pinned discussion to be injected as HTML on the discussion list. The issue was discovered following an internal audit.\n\nAny HTML would be injected through Mithril's `m.trust()` helper. This resulted in an HTML injection where `<script>` tags would not be executed. However it was possible to run javascript from other HTML attributes, enabling a cross-site scripting (XSS) attack to be performed.\n\nSince the exploit only happens with the first post of a pinned discussion, an attacker would need the ability to pin their own discussion, or be able to edit a discussion that was previously pinned.\n\nOn forums where all pinned posts are authored by your staff, you can be relatively certain the vulnerability has not been exploited.\n\nForums where some user-created discussions were pinned can look at the first post edit date to find whether the vulnerability might have been exploited. Because Flarum doesn't store the post content history, you cannot be certain if a malicious edit was reverted.\n\n### Patches\nThe fix will be available in version v0.1.0-beta.16 with Flarum beta 16. The fix has already been back-ported to Flarum beta 15 as version v0.1.0-beta.15.1 of the Sticky extension.\n\n### Workarounds\nForum administrators can disable the Sticky extension until they are able to apply the update. The vulnerability cannot be exploited while the extension is disabled.\n\n### References\n\n- [Release announcement](https://discuss.flarum.org/d/26042-security-update-to-flarum-sticky-010-beta151)\n- [Pull Request](https://github.com/flarum/sticky/pull/24)\n\n### For more information\nIf you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please start a new discussion on our [support forum](https://discuss.flarum.org/t/support).\n\nIf you discover a security vulnerability within Flarum, please send an e-mail to [security@flarum.org](mailto:security@flarum.org). All security vulnerabilities will be promptly addressed. More details can be found in our [security policy](https://github.com/flarum/core/security/policy).",
  "severity" : [ ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Packagist",
      "name" : "flarum/sticky"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0.1.0-beta.14"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.1.0-beta.15.1"
      } ]
    } ],
    "database_specific" : {
      "last_known_affected_version_range" : "<= 0.1.0-beta.15"
    }
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/flarum/sticky/security/advisories/GHSA-h3gg-7wx2-cq3h"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-21283"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/flarum/sticky/pull/24"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/flarum/sticky/commit/7ebd30462bd405c4c0570b93a6d48710e6c3db19"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://discuss.flarum.org/d/26042-security-update-to-flarum-sticky-010-beta151)"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-79" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2021-01-26T20:41:58Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2021-01-26T21:15:00Z"
  }
}