📄 Description (English)
Exponent CMS 2.6 contains a stored cross-site scripting vulnerability that allows authenticated attackers to inject malicious scripts through the Title and Text Block parameters in the text editing endpoint. Attackers can inject iframe payloads with embedded SVG onload events to execute arbitrary JavaScript, and the application also exposes database credentials in responses and lacks brute-force protection on authentication endpoints.
🤖 AI Executive Summary
CVE-2021-47931 is a stored XSS vulnerability in Exponent CMS 2.6 affecting authenticated users who can inject malicious scripts through text editing parameters. The vulnerability allows attackers to execute arbitrary JavaScript via iframe and SVG payloads, combined with exposed database credentials and weak authentication protections. While requiring authentication, the lack of available patches and exposure of sensitive credentials creates significant risk for organizations using this CMS.
📄 Description (Arabic)
🤖 AI Intelligence Analysis Analyzed: May 13, 2026 11:19
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Impact Assessment
This vulnerability primarily impacts Saudi government agencies, educational institutions, and small-to-medium enterprises using Exponent CMS for content management. Government entities under NCA oversight and SAMA-regulated financial institutions face elevated risk due to exposed database credentials and potential data exfiltration. Healthcare organizations using this CMS for patient information portals are at particular risk. The vulnerability is especially concerning for organizations lacking mature incident response capabilities and those with limited security monitoring.
🏢 Affected Saudi Sectors
Government
Education
Healthcare
Small and Medium Enterprises
Non-profit Organizations
Local Government Authorities
🎯 MITRE ATT&CK Techniques
T1190 - Exploit Public-Facing Application
T1598 - Phishing
T1566 - Phishing
T1059 - Command and Scripting Interpreter
T1059.007 - JavaScript/JScript
T1040 - Network Sniffing
T1555 - Credentials from Password Stores
T1110 - Brute Force
T1110.001 - Password Guessing
T1087 - Account Discovery
T1005 - Data from Local System
T1041 - Exfiltration Over C2 Channel
⚖️ Saudi Risk Score (AI)
6.8
/ 10.0
🔧 Remediation Steps (English)
Immediate Actions:
1. Audit all Exponent CMS 2.6 installations across your organization and document their criticality
2. Restrict access to text editing endpoints to trusted administrators only
3. Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to block iframe and SVG onload payloads in POST requests to text editing endpoints
4. Rotate all database credentials exposed through the application immediately
5. Review access logs for suspicious text editing activities and XSS payload patterns
Compensating Controls:
6. Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to prevent inline script execution: Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'
7. Enable input validation and output encoding on all text fields
8. Deploy network segmentation to limit CMS database access
9. Implement multi-factor authentication for CMS administrative accounts
10. Enable comprehensive logging and alerting for authentication failures and text editing modifications
Detection Rules:
- Monitor for POST requests to text editing endpoints containing 'iframe', 'svg', 'onload', or 'onerror' keywords
- Alert on multiple failed authentication attempts from single IP addresses
- Track database credential exposure in application responses
- Monitor for unusual administrative user activity in text editing functions
🔧 خطوات المعالجة (العربية)
الإجراءات الفورية:
1. تدقيق جميع تثبيتات Exponent CMS 2.6 عبر مؤسستك وتوثيق أهميتها
2. تقييد الوصول إلى نقاط نهاية تحرير النصوص للمسؤولين الموثوقين فقط
3. تنفيذ قواعد جدار حماية تطبيقات الويب لحجب حمولات iframe و SVG في طلبات POST
4. تدوير جميع بيانات اعتماد قاعدة البيانات المكشوفة فوراً
5. مراجعة سجلات الوصول للأنشطة المريبة وأنماط حمولات XSS
الضوابط التعويضية:
6. تنفيذ رؤوس سياسة أمان المحتوى لمنع تنفيذ البرامج النصية المضمنة
7. تفعيل التحقق من صحة الإدخال وترميز الإخراج على جميع الحقول النصية
8. نشر تقسيم الشبكة لتحديد وصول قاعدة بيانات CMS
9. تنفيذ المصادقة متعددة العوامل لحسابات CMS الإدارية
10. تفعيل السجلات الشاملة والتنبيهات لفشل المصادقة وتعديلات تحرير النصوص
قواعد الكشف:
- مراقبة طلبات POST إلى نقاط نهاية تحرير النصوص التي تحتوي على كلمات مفتاحية
- التنبيه على محاولات مصادقة متعددة فاشلة من عناوين IP واحدة
- تتبع تعريض بيانات اعتماد قاعدة البيانات في استجابات التطبيق
- مراقبة نشاط المستخدم الإداري غير العادي في وظائف تحرير النصوص
📋 Regulatory Compliance Mapping
🟢 NCA ECC 2024
A.5.1.1 - Information Security Policies and Procedures
A.6.1.1 - Access Control Policy
A.6.2.1 - User Registration and De-registration
A.6.2.2 - User Access Provisioning
A.7.1.1 - Cryptography Policy
A.8.1.1 - Audit Logging
A.8.2.1 - Protection of Log Information
A.9.1.1 - Event Logging
A.9.2.1 - Monitoring and Review of Access to Information
🔵 SAMA CSF
Governance - Policy and Risk Management
Governance - Third-party Risk Management
Protective - Access Control
Protective - Data Protection and Privacy
Protective - Secure Development
Detective - Monitoring and Logging
Detective - Vulnerability Management
🟡 ISO 27001:2022
5.1 - Policies for information security
6.1 - Information security roles and responsibilities
6.2 - Information security competencies
7.1 - General
7.2 - Information security related roles and responsibilities
8.1 - Operational planning and control
8.2 - Supply chain relationships
8.3 - Information and communication
8.4 - Physical and environmental security
8.5 - Access control
8.6 - Cryptography
8.7 - Physical and logical access
8.22 - Information security incident management
8.23 - Information security event evaluation
8.24 - Response to information security incidents
8.32 - Change management
🟣 PCI DSS v4.0.1
Requirement 1 - Install and maintain a firewall configuration
Requirement 2 - Do not use vendor-supplied defaults
Requirement 6 - Develop and maintain secure systems and applications
Requirement 6.2 - Ensure security patches are installed
Requirement 7 - Restrict access to data by business need to know
Requirement 8 - Identify and authenticate access to system components
Requirement 10 - Track and monitor all access to network resources