CVE-2022-39270 : What You Need to Know

This article provides detailed information about CVE-2022-39270, which involves Arbitrary HTML injection in the table-of-contents theme component in DiscoTOC.

Understanding CVE-2022-39270

CVE-2022-39270 pertains to a vulnerability in DiscoTOC, a Discourse theme component that creates a table of contents for topics. This vulnerability allows users with the ability to create topics in TOC-enabled categories to inject arbitrary HTML on the topic's page.

What is CVE-2022-39270?

The vulnerability in DiscoTOC's table-of-contents theme component allows users to inject arbitrary HTML on a topic's page, posing a risk of cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. Users with the appropriate trust level in TOC-enabled categories can exploit this issue.

The Impact of CVE-2022-39270

An attacker could leverage this vulnerability to inject malicious scripts into the DiscoTOC component, potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive information, cookie theft, or other malicious activities.

Technical Details of CVE-2022-39270

Vulnerability Description

The vulnerability arises from insufficient validation of user input in DiscoTOC's table-of-contents theme component, allowing users to insert arbitrary HTML content into topics.

Affected Systems and Versions

Discourse's DiscoTOC versions prior to 2.1.0 are impacted by this vulnerability. Users of affected versions should take immediate action to mitigate the risk.

Exploitation Mechanism

Users with the ability to create topics in TOC-enabled categories and a sufficient trust level can exploit the vulnerability by injecting arbitrary HTML code into the topic's page.

Mitigation and Prevention

Immediate Steps to Take

Admins should update the DiscoTOC theme component to the latest version available on the

main

branch. Alternatively, temporarily disabling the DiscoTOC theme component can mitigate the risk until an update is applied.

Long-Term Security Practices

Implementing strict input validation practices, regular security audits, and user permissions review can help prevent similar HTML injection vulnerabilities in the future.

Patching and Updates

Regularly monitoring for security advisories from Discourse and promptly applying patches or updates to theme components can enhance overall system security and protect against known vulnerabilities.