Summary

Vulnerability: Stored DOM XSS via Blog Category Title (Persistent Payload Injection)

• Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Unsanitized Blog Category Title in Blog Management

Description

The application fails to properly sanitize user-controlled input when creating or editing blog categories. An attacker can inject a malicious JavaScript payload into the category title field, which is then stored server-side.

This stored payload is later rendered unsafely across public-facing blog category pages, administrative interfaces, and blog post views without proper output encoding, leading to stored cross-site scripting (XSS).

Affected Functionality

• Blog category creation functionality
• Blog category editing functionality
• Blog category storage and retrieval logic

Attack Scenario

• An attacker creates or edits a blog category title to include a malicious XSS payload.
• The application stores this value without sanitization or encoding.
• The payload persists and executes whenever the category title is rendered in affected views.

Impact

• Persistent Stored XSS
• Execution of arbitrary JavaScript in victims’ browsers
• Privilege escalation when viewed by administrators or privileged users
• Full administrator account takeover
• Full account takeover across all roles
• Full compromise of the entire application

Endpoints:

• /backend/blogs/categories/
• /blog/{id}

Steps To Reproduce (POC)

1. Go to the Blog Categories management page
2. Create or edit a category and insert an XSS payload into the category title such as: <img src=x onerror=alert(document.domain)>
3. Save the category
4. View a public blog category page, blog post page, or the administrative interface
5. Notice the XSS payload executing automatically

Remediation

• Avoid unsafe DOM manipulation methods: Do not use .html(), innerHTML, or similar sink functions in client-side JavaScript or server-side templating (e.g., PHP). Even when user input flowing into these sinks is not immediately apparent, they can introduce Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities that an attacker may exploit.

• Implement HTML entity encoding on all user-controlled data before rendering it in the browser. This helps neutralize potentially malicious input.