CVE-2024-2266: Secret-Coder-PHP-Project XSS Vulnerability

CVE-2024-2266 Overview

CVE-2024-2266 is a reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in keerti1924 Secret-Coder-PHP-Project 1.0. The flaw resides in the Login Page component, specifically the /login.php script. Attackers can manipulate the emailcookie and passwordcookie cookie parameters to inject arbitrary JavaScript that executes in a victim's browser. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable and requires user interaction. The exploit has been publicly disclosed. The vendor was contacted about this issue but did not respond.

Critical Impact
Remote attackers can execute arbitrary JavaScript in a victim's browser session, enabling credential theft, session hijacking, and phishing against users of the affected PHP application.

Affected Products

keerti1924 Secret-Coder-PHP-Project 1.0
Component: Login Page (/login.php)
Vulnerable parameters: emailcookie and passwordcookie

Discovery Timeline

2024-03-07 - CVE-2024-2266 published to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-2266

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a reflected cross-site scripting issue classified under CWE-79. The /login.php script reads the emailcookie and passwordcookie cookie values and renders them in the HTML response without proper output encoding or input sanitization. When an attacker persuades a victim to visit a crafted URL or preload malicious cookies, the injected script executes in the victim's browser under the origin of the vulnerable application.

The attack requires user interaction and no authentication. Because the affected project appears to be a small open-source PHP application, remediation depends on either community patches or user-side removal. The vendor has not responded to disclosure attempts.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing input validation and output encoding on cookie-supplied data. The application echoes attacker-controlled values from emailcookie and passwordcookie directly into the HTML response of the login page. PHP's default behavior does not encode output for HTML contexts, so any script payload placed inside these cookies is rendered as executable markup.

Attack Vector

An attacker crafts a payload containing JavaScript and delivers it to the target via a phishing link, malicious page, or a network position that sets cookies on the victim's browser for the vulnerable domain. When the victim loads /login.php, the browser sends the tainted cookies and the server reflects the payload into the response. Execution occurs in the security context of the vulnerable site, giving the attacker access to session cookies, form data on the login page, and the ability to perform actions on behalf of the user.

A public proof of concept demonstrating the injection is available on GitHub. The vulnerability mechanism is straightforward reflected XSS through unsanitized cookie parameters, so no synthetic exploit code is reproduced here.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-2266

Indicators of Compromise

HTTP requests to /login.php containing emailcookie or passwordcookie values with <script>, onerror=, javascript:, or encoded script markup.
Set-Cookie or Cookie: headers referencing emailcookie or passwordcookie with payloads longer than expected email or password fields.
Outbound browser requests to unfamiliar domains initiated immediately after users visit the login page.
Web server access logs showing repeated GET /login.php requests originating from links in phishing campaigns.

Detection Strategies

Deploy a web application firewall (WAF) rule that inspects cookie values sent to /login.php for HTML and JavaScript metacharacters.
Enable Content Security Policy (CSP) violation reporting to identify inline script execution attempts on the login page.
Correlate web access logs with endpoint telemetry to identify browser processes launching unexpected child processes after visiting the application.

Monitoring Recommendations

Log full request headers, including cookies, for the /login.php endpoint and forward them to a centralized log platform.
Alert on any cookie value containing angle brackets, event-handler attributes, or URL-encoded script fragments.
Track referrer patterns to identify users arriving at /login.php from external, non-corporate origins.

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-2266

Immediate Actions Required

Remove or isolate Secret-Coder-PHP-Project 1.0 from production and internet-exposed environments until a fix is applied.
Apply server-side output encoding to any cookie values reflected by /login.php using htmlspecialchars($value, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8').
Set the HttpOnly and Secure flags on all authentication-related cookies to reduce impact if XSS is triggered.
Deploy a strict Content Security Policy that blocks inline scripts on the login page.

Patch Information

No official vendor patch is available. The vendor did not respond to disclosure attempts per the VulDB advisory (VulDB entry 256036). Administrators must apply source-level fixes themselves by sanitizing the emailcookie and passwordcookie values in /login.php before rendering them in HTML.

Workarounds

Place the application behind a WAF with rules that strip or block script metacharacters in cookie parameters.
Restrict access to the application to trusted internal networks only.
Consider migrating to a maintained authentication component, as the upstream project appears unmaintained.
Educate users to avoid following unsolicited links to the login page.

bash

# Example Apache mod_security rule to block script payloads in login cookies
SecRule REQUEST_COOKIES:emailcookie|REQUEST_COOKIES:passwordcookie "@rx (?i)(<script|onerror=|javascript:|onload=)" \
    "id:1002266,phase:1,deny,status:403,msg:'CVE-2024-2266 XSS attempt in login cookies'"