# CVE-2009-4250: Cross-site scripting in n/a

> Remote attackers can inject arbitrary web script or HTML via multiple parameters in CuteNews, potentially leading to session hijacking or data theft.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.3 (`AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 10 Dec 2009
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-f4hj-wx9v-jvfh

## What is CVE-2009-4250?

CVE-2009-4250 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in n/a, published on 10 Dec 2009. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in CutePHP CuteNews 1.4.6 and UTF-8 CuteNews before 8b allow remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via (1) the result parameter to register.php; (2) the user parameter to search.php; the (3) cat_msg, (4) source_msg, (5) postponed_selected, (6) unapproved_selected, and (7) news_per_page parameters in a list action to the editnews module of index.php; and (8) the link tag in news comments.  NOTE: some of the vulnerabilities require register_globals to be enabled and/or magic_quotes_gpc to be disabled.

Weakness: CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2009-4250?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Cutephp Cutenews, Korn19 Utf-8 Cutenews.

## How do I fix CVE-2009-4250?

No fix has been published for CVE-2009-4250 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2009-4250 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2009-4250 exists.

Public exploit code:

- CuteNews and UTF-8 CuteNews - Multiple Vulnerabilities (exploitdb)
- CuteNews 1.4.6 - 'result' Cross-Site Scripting (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2008-4557](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-4557/): Code injection in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2020-5558](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5558/): Code injection in CuteNews (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-11447](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-11447/): File upload in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2007-1153](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-1153/): Code injection in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2006-4445](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2006-4445/): Code injection in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2009-4250 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2009-4250 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in n/a, published on 10 Dec 2009. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2009-4250 exists.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-4250/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-4250/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-4250
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2009-4250
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2009-4250

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-4250/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.