Description

A vulnerability has been found in SourceCodester Drug Recommendation System 1.0. This vulnerability affects unknown code of the file /drug_recommender/Admin/add_user of the component User Management. Such manipulation of the argument txtname/txtemail/txtpassword leads to cross site scripting. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "3.5",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-20T15:16:30.553Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-20T15:16:30.553Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists within the User Management component of SourceCodester Drug Recommendation System 1.0.\nThe vulnerability allows remote attackers to inject malicious scripts into the application via the /drug_recommender/Admin/add_user endpoint.\nBy manipulating the 'txtname', 'txtemail', or 'txtpassword' parameters, an attacker can execute arbitrary JavaScript within the context of a victim's browser session.\nThis flaw presents significant risk, as successful exploitation may result in session hijacking, unauthorized data access, or the redirection of users to malicious third-party content.\nThe vulnerability is currently publicly disclosed, increasing the likelihood of exploitation by threat actors targeting this specific application.\nExploitation does not necessarily require advanced network positioning, as the attack can be launched remotely against administrators managing user accounts.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability is rooted in the failure of the /drug_recommender/Admin/add_user script to adequately sanitize or encode user-supplied input before rendering it back to the web interface.\nThe input parameters 'txtname', 'txtemail', and 'txtpassword' act as vectors for reflected XSS, where the server-side application processes these fields and reflects them within the HTTP response without proper character entity encoding.\nThe attack flow begins when an attacker crafts a malicious request containing script tags or other HTML/JavaScript payloads within one of the vulnerable parameters. When the administrative user or the system processes the request, the injected code is interpreted by the browser as legitimate content.\nBecause the vulnerability occurs within the administrative section of the Drug Recommendation System 1.0, the impact is elevated, as an attacker could potentially gain unauthorized access to administrative sessions or sensitive patient and medical data managed by the system.\nThe vulnerability facilitates persistent or reflected execution, depending on how the application handles the processed input upon submission to the backend database. In an XSS scenario, the payload executes in the context of the victim's session, allowing the attacker to bypass authentication tokens, perform actions on behalf of the administrator, or capture sensitive cookie information.\nThe lack of robust input validation and output encoding at the application layer permits the bypass of standard request filtering. Without implementing strict Content Security Policy (CSP) or server-side input validation, the application remains susceptible to standard web-based injection vectors. Successful exploitation requires no specific architectural knowledge other than the existence of these input fields within the User Management component.\nPost-exploitation, an attacker can maintain persistence or exfiltrate data by utilizing the Document Object Model (DOM) to capture form data, read page content, or modify the interface to conduct further phishing campaigns against the application's user base."
}