Description

A security vulnerability has been detected in sambitraj Student-Management-System up to 56ba287f2e9031523ccb4244cb6e3fe530e4e5d5. The impacted element is the function session_start. Such manipulation leads to cookie without 'httponly' flag. The attack may be launched remotely. A high complexity level is associated with this attack. The exploitability is regarded as difficult. The exploit has been disclosed publicly and may be used. This product operates on a rolling release basis, ensuring continuous delivery. Consequently, there are no version details for either affected or updated releases. The project was informed of the problem early through an issue report but has not responded yet.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "3.7",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-31T14:17:26.783Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-31T14:17:26.783Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A security vulnerability exists in the sambitraj Student-Management-System up to commit 56ba287f2e9031523ccb4244cb6e3fe530e4e5d5 involving the improper configuration of session cookies.\nThe application fails to set the 'HttpOnly' flag on session cookies initialized via the session_start function.\nThis vulnerability exposes session identifiers to client-side scripts, significantly increasing the risk of session hijacking via Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).\nThe attack vector is remote, though it is categorized as having high complexity and being difficult to exploit.\nDespite being publicly disclosed and reported to the maintainers, the issue remains unaddressed in the project's rolling release cycle, leaving users exposed to potential credential theft and unauthorized account access.\nThe primary risk is the compromise of session integrity, allowing an attacker to impersonate legitimate users if a secondary vulnerability facilitating script injection is present.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability resides within the session management implementation of the sambitraj Student-Management-System, specifically linked to the configuration handled during the session_start function. In PHP environments, session_start initializes the session handling process; if the session cookie parameters are not explicitly hardened, the application defaults to permissive security settings.\nThe root cause is the failure to define the 'HttpOnly' attribute within the session cookie settings. When a cookie is transmitted without the HttpOnly flag, the browser permits the document.cookie API to access the session identifier via JavaScript. This design flaw essentially removes the browser-level protection that is intended to prevent sensitive session token exposure.\nExploitation of this vulnerability generally requires an attacker to successfully execute an XSS attack against the target application. Because the session cookie lacks the HttpOnly flag, any malicious script injected into the page via an XSS vector can read the session cookie using 'document.cookie'. Once the session ID is exfiltrated to an attacker-controlled server, the attacker can replay the token in their own browser to impersonate the victim's session.\nThe attack flow follows these steps: 1) The attacker identifies or creates an XSS vulnerability within the application to execute arbitrary JavaScript in the context of the victim's session. 2) The malicious script retrieves the session identifier from the document.cookie object, as the lack of HttpOnly prevents browser-enforced isolation. 3) The script exfiltrates the session ID to an external, attacker-controlled domain. 4) The attacker replaces their own session cookie with the stolen identifier. 5) The attacker accesses the application, effectively bypassing authentication mechanisms and gaining full access to the victim's privileges.\nAlthough the exploit is categorized as difficult and high-complexity, the potential impact is severe. The lack of HttpOnly protection negates a critical layer of defense-in-depth, turning minor client-side vulnerabilities into full account takeover scenarios. Since the project operates on a rolling release and has not implemented a fix, the vulnerability persists across all deployments currently using the affected code up to commit 56ba287f2e9031523ccb4244cb6e3fe530e4e5d5. Authentication and privilege requirements depend on the victim; however, once the session is hijacked, the attacker inherits the victim's existing security context without further authentication steps."
}