CVE-2024-3533 Overview
CVE-2024-3533 is a reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Campcodes Complete Online Student Management System 1.0. The flaw resides in academic_year_view.php, where the FirstRecord parameter is reflected into the response without sanitization. An unauthenticated attacker can craft a malicious URL and deliver it to a victim to execute arbitrary JavaScript in the victim's browser session. The exploit has been publicly disclosed, increasing the likelihood of opportunistic attacks against exposed deployments. The vulnerability is tracked as VulDB entry VDB-259903 and maps to [CWE-79].
Critical Impact
Successful exploitation enables session hijacking, credential theft via injected forms, and arbitrary actions performed in the context of an authenticated administrator or student user.
Affected Products
- Campcodes Complete Online Student Management System 1.0
- academic_year_view.php endpoint (vulnerable component)
- Deployments exposing the FirstRecord query parameter
Discovery Timeline
- 2024-04-10 - CVE-2024-3533 published to NVD
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2024-3533
Vulnerability Analysis
The vulnerability is a reflected XSS in the academic_year_view.php script. The application reads the FirstRecord HTTP parameter and writes its value directly into the HTML response. Because no output encoding or input filtering is applied, an attacker can inject HTML and JavaScript that executes in the victim's browser. Exploitation requires user interaction, typically a click on an attacker-supplied link.
The scope impact is changed because script execution in the browser can affect resources beyond the vulnerable application's own security boundary, such as cookies or tokens for other same-origin content. Confidentiality and integrity impacts are limited to data accessible within the user's authenticated session.
Root Cause
The root cause is improper neutralization of input during web page generation [CWE-79]. The FirstRecord request parameter is concatenated into the HTML output without context-aware escaping. Standard protections such as HTML entity encoding, Content Security Policy, or input allowlisting are absent in version 1.0.
Attack Vector
An attacker crafts a URL targeting academic_year_view.php with a malicious payload in the FirstRecord parameter. The attacker delivers the link through phishing, forum posts, or chat. When a victim visits the link while authenticated to the application, the injected script executes with the victim's privileges. Typical payloads steal session cookies, perform CSRF-style actions, or render phishing content inside the trusted origin. The public disclosure referenced in the GitHub Vulnerability Report PDF documents the parameter and request path.
No verified proof-of-concept code is reproduced here. Refer to the VulDB entry #259903 for additional technical details.
Detection Methods for CVE-2024-3533
Indicators of Compromise
- HTTP GET requests to academic_year_view.php containing <script>, onerror=, onload=, or URL-encoded equivalents in the FirstRecord parameter.
- Unusual outbound requests from user browsers to attacker-controlled domains immediately after visiting the application.
- Web server logs showing long or obfuscated FirstRecord values with HTML tags or JavaScript keywords.
Detection Strategies
- Deploy web application firewall (WAF) rules that flag reflected XSS patterns in query strings targeting academic_year_view.php.
- Correlate authenticated session anomalies, such as sudden token reuse from new IPs, with prior access to the vulnerable endpoint.
- Review referrer headers for links originating from external, untrusted domains that pass encoded script content.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable verbose logging on the application server for all parameters passed to PHP endpoints.
- Monitor browser-side Content Security Policy (CSP) violation reports if CSP is configured.
- Alert on repeated requests from a single source that mutate the FirstRecord parameter, a signature of payload fuzzing.
How to Mitigate CVE-2024-3533
Immediate Actions Required
- Restrict access to the Campcodes application to trusted networks or behind authenticated VPN access until a patch is available.
- Deploy a WAF rule to strip or reject HTML and JavaScript metacharacters from the FirstRecord parameter.
- Educate administrators and users to avoid clicking unsolicited links referencing the application.
Patch Information
No vendor patch is listed in the NVD advisory or referenced VulDB entries at the time of writing. Organizations running Campcodes Complete Online Student Management System 1.0 should monitor the vendor channel for an updated release and consider replacing the application if no fix is forthcoming. Review the VulDB CTII entry for the latest status.
Workarounds
- Apply server-side input validation that rejects non-numeric values for FirstRecord, since the parameter is used for pagination.
- Implement HTML entity encoding on all reflected parameters within academic_year_view.php by wrapping output with htmlspecialchars($value, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8').
- Configure a strict Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts to reduce the impact of reflected XSS.
- Set the HttpOnly and Secure flags on session cookies to limit theft via injected JavaScript.
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
