CVE-2025-65881: Zoo Management System XSS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-65881 Overview

CVE-2025-65881 is a Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Sourcecodester Zoo Management System v1.0. The flaw resides in the /classes/Login.php component and allows attackers to inject arbitrary JavaScript through unsanitized user input. Successful exploitation executes attacker-controlled script in the context of a victim's browser session.

The vulnerability is classified under [CWE-79] (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation). Attackers can weaponize it to steal session cookies, redirect users, or perform actions on behalf of authenticated administrators. Exploitation requires user interaction, typically through a crafted link or malicious form submission.

Critical Impact
Attackers can execute arbitrary JavaScript in a victim's browser session, enabling credential theft and account takeover of Zoo Management System administrators.

Affected Products

Oretnom23 Zoo Management System 1.0
Sourcecodester Zoo Management System /classes/Login.php
All deployments running the affected zoo_management_system codebase

Discovery Timeline

2025-12-02 - CVE-2025-65881 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-65881

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability exists in the Login.php script located in the /classes/ directory of Zoo Management System v1.0. The script processes user-supplied input without applying proper output encoding or input sanitization before reflecting the data back to the browser. This behavior allows an attacker to inject HTML and JavaScript payloads that execute in the browser context of any user who processes the malicious response.

Exploitation requires a victim to interact with a crafted request, such as clicking a specially crafted link. Because the vulnerability affects the login component, attackers can target authenticated administrators to hijack privileged sessions. The scope-changed impact means injected script can affect resources beyond the vulnerable component's security context.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing output encoding and input validation in the login handling logic of /classes/Login.php. User-controlled parameters are concatenated into HTML responses without HTML entity encoding or context-aware escaping. This maps directly to [CWE-79].

Attack Vector

An attacker crafts a URL or form containing a JavaScript payload targeting the login endpoint. The victim clicks the link or visits a page under the attacker's control that submits the request. The application reflects the payload into the response, and the browser executes the injected script. See the GitHub CVE-2025-65881 Repository and the GitHub Gist Code Snippet for technical details of the reflected payload structure.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-65881

Indicators of Compromise

HTTP requests to /classes/Login.php containing script tags, javascript: URIs, or HTML event handlers such as onerror, onload, or onclick.
URL-encoded payloads containing %3Cscript%3E, %3Cimg, or similar encoded XSS patterns in login-related parameters.
Unexpected outbound requests from administrator browsers to unfamiliar domains shortly after login page access.

Detection Strategies

Deploy web application firewall (WAF) rules that inspect POST and GET parameters submitted to /classes/Login.php for XSS signatures.
Enable server-side logging of all input parameters sent to the login endpoint and alert on payloads containing HTML metacharacters.
Correlate login endpoint requests with subsequent anomalous session activity such as unusual privilege changes or data exports.

Monitoring Recommendations

Monitor referer headers on requests to /classes/Login.php for external origins that may indicate phishing-driven exploitation.
Track browser Content Security Policy (CSP) violation reports for the Zoo Management System domain.
Review web server access logs for repeated login endpoint access from single sources with encoded payloads.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-65881

Immediate Actions Required

Restrict access to the Zoo Management System administrative interface to trusted internal networks or VPN users.
Deploy a WAF with XSS filtering rules covering the /classes/Login.php endpoint.
Instruct administrators to avoid clicking untrusted links pointing to the application.

Patch Information

No vendor patch has been published for Sourcecodester Zoo Management System v1.0 at the time of publication. Administrators should apply manual code fixes to /classes/Login.php, adding HTML entity encoding on all reflected parameters and validating input against strict allowlists. Consult the GitHub CVE-2025-65881 Repository for reference details.

Workarounds

Implement a strict Content Security Policy (CSP) that disallows inline scripts and restricts script sources to trusted origins.
Add server-side input validation to reject requests containing HTML metacharacters in login parameters.
Enable HttpOnly and Secure flags on session cookies to limit impact if XSS is exploited.
Consider decommissioning the application if it is used in production, as it is a small open-source project with no formal maintenance.

bash

# Example Apache mod_security rule to block XSS payloads on the login endpoint
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@contains /classes/Login.php" \
    "id:1065881,phase:2,deny,status:403,\
    chain,msg:'Potential XSS attempt against Zoo Management System Login.php'"
    SecRule ARGS "@rx (?i)(<script|javascript:|onerror=|onload=)" "t:none,t:urlDecode"