CVE-2024-2526: Online Event Hall Reservation System XSS Flaw

CVE-2024-2526 Overview

CVE-2024-2526 is a reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability [CWE-79] in MAGESH-K21 Online-College-Event-Hall-Reservation-System version 1.0. The flaw resides in /admin/rooms.php, where the id parameter is reflected into the response without proper output encoding or input sanitization. Remote attackers can craft a malicious URL that executes arbitrary JavaScript in the context of a victim's browser session when the link is opened. The exploit details have been publicly disclosed, and the vendor did not respond to the disclosure attempt.

Critical Impact
Successful exploitation allows attackers to hijack administrator sessions, perform actions on behalf of authenticated users, and redirect victims to attacker-controlled resources.

Affected Products

MAGESH-K21 Online-College-Event-Hall-Reservation-System 1.0
Component: /admin/rooms.php
Vulnerable parameter: id

Discovery Timeline

2024-03-16 - CVE-2024-2526 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-2526

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability is a reflected XSS issue in the administrative interface of the reservation system. The /admin/rooms.php endpoint accepts the id HTTP parameter and echoes its value back into the rendered HTML page without escaping or filtering. An attacker who can lure an authenticated administrator into clicking a crafted link can execute arbitrary script content in that administrator's browser session. Because the injection reflects into the admin console, the impact scope extends beyond the vulnerable component into other administrative functionality accessible to the victim.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing input validation and output encoding on the id query string parameter. The application concatenates user-supplied input directly into HTML output without applying context-aware escaping functions such as htmlspecialchars(). This classic Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation weakness [CWE-79] enables script injection through standard HTTP GET requests.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires a network-reachable instance of the application and user interaction. The attacker crafts a URL targeting /admin/rooms.php?id= with a JavaScript payload appended, then delivers the URL through phishing, forum posts, or other social engineering vectors. When an authenticated administrator opens the link, the injected script executes with the privileges of that session. Attackers commonly leverage this to steal session cookies, submit forged administrative requests, or inject secondary payloads.

A proof-of-concept demonstrating the reflected XSS payload is documented in the public GitHub PoC for CVE-2024-2526 and VulDB Analysis #256963.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-2526

Indicators of Compromise

HTTP GET requests to /admin/rooms.php containing script tags, javascript: URIs, or event handler attributes such as onerror= and onload= in the id parameter.
Web server access logs showing URL-encoded payloads like %3Cscript%3E targeting the rooms.php endpoint.
Unusual referrer headers on administrator sessions pointing to external attacker-controlled domains.

Detection Strategies

Deploy a web application firewall (WAF) with signatures for reflected XSS patterns against the affected endpoint.
Inspect application logs for anomalous id parameter values containing HTML or JavaScript metacharacters.
Correlate outbound browser requests from administrator workstations with recent visits to the reservation system.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable verbose logging on the reservation system web server and forward logs to a centralized analytics platform.
Monitor administrator session behavior for unexpected cookie access, form submissions, or credential changes.
Alert on repeated requests to /admin/rooms.php from external IPs with malformed query parameters.

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-2526

Immediate Actions Required

Restrict network access to the /admin/ directory using IP allowlists or VPN-only access until a fix is applied.
Instruct administrators to avoid clicking untrusted links referencing the reservation system.
Deploy WAF rules that block script metacharacters in the id parameter of /admin/rooms.php.

Patch Information

No vendor patch is available. The vendor was contacted about this disclosure but did not respond. Organizations running MAGESH-K21 Online-College-Event-Hall-Reservation-System 1.0 should treat the software as unmaintained and consider migrating to a supported alternative. Track updates through VulDB Details #256963.

Workarounds

Apply server-side input validation using htmlspecialchars($_GET['id'], ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8') before rendering the parameter in HTML output.
Implement a strict Content Security Policy (CSP) header that disallows inline scripts and restricts script sources.
Enable the HttpOnly and Secure flags on session cookies to reduce the impact of script-based cookie theft.
Consider decommissioning the application if administrative access cannot be adequately isolated.

bash

# Example NGINX configuration to add CSP and cookie hardening
add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; object-src 'none'" always;
add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;
add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
proxy_cookie_flags ~ HttpOnly Secure SameSite=Strict;