ExLibris Aleph and Metalib Cross Site Scripting Attack ------------------------------------------------------ Matthew Cook Date 16/07/2007 http://escarpment.net/ http://escarpment.net/exlibris.txt Attack: Multiple versions of the ExLibris (http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/) Aleph and Metalib products are vulnerable to simple XSS (Cross Site Scripting attacks). The vulnerability allows an attacker to run commands on the local computer if the attacker convinces the user to view a malicious URL. Due to the collaborative nature of these products, passing URLs between colleagues is common place and therefore the simple attack poses a greater risk. These products are used worldwide in many: Libraries, Universities, Colleges and Schools. In Aleph, searching for keywords using very simple javascript code will provide you with the basic URL, into which the malicious code can be injected. Depending on the search location, padding may be required to get the attack to work. In Metalab the same attack can be achieved if a valid resource id is known. This attack therefore needs to be rather more site specific, a simple search is required to discover a valid resource id. Timeline: 13/07/2007 Vulnerability was logged in ExLibris Customer Relationship Management System 16/07/2007 Incident closed by ExLibris Response from ExLibris: "Hi - Several fixes relating to this have been made in MetaLib v4, and only critical fixes are being made for v3.13. The problem can only be replicated with IE, and FireFox is not officially supported for 3.13." Remaining issues: * The problem can be replicated with Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc and evidence has been provided to ExLibris. We are encouraging ExLibris to recognise at least Firefox as a commonly used browser for accessing their products. * We are actively encouraging ExLibris to classify this as a critical fix for version 3.13. Regards Matt -- Matt Cook - Senior IT Security Specialist [Security & Compliance : Computing Services : Loughborough University] [W] http://escarpment.net/