CVE-2004-2211

Vulnerability

Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities exist in AliveSites Forums version 2.0. An attacker can inject arbitrary web script or HTML through several parameters in the application: the forum_id, method, forum_title, and id parameters in post.asp, and the forum_title parameter in forum.asp. No authentication or special configuration is required to reach these vulnerable parameters [1].

Exploitation

An attacker positions themselves as any remote visitor to the forum. No prior authentication or special network position beyond standard HTTP access is required. The attacker crafts a URL containing malicious script in one of the affected parameters (e.g., forum_id, method, forum_title, or id) and entices a victim to click on the link. When the victim's browser renders the vulnerable page, the injected script executes in the context of the forum's domain [1].

Impact

Successful exploitation allows the attacker to execute arbitrary HTML and script in the victim's browser. This can lead to session hijacking, defacement, redirection to malicious sites, or theft of sensitive information (e.g., cookies, credentials) visible to the victim's session on the AliveSites Forums site. The attacker's script runs with the same privileges as the authenticated or unauthenticated victim user [1].

Mitigation

No official patch or fixed version is documented in the available references for AliveSites Forums 2.0. Administrators should consider applying input sanitization on the identified parameters (forum_id, method, forum_title, id) via a reverse proxy or web application firewall. If the software is no longer maintained, migrating to an alternative forum platform is recommended [1].