Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-49489

MediumPublic PoC

Published: 19 December 2023

Published
19 December 2023
Modified
07 May 2025
KEV Added
—
Patch
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CVSS Score v3.1 6.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0080 74.5th percentile
Risk Priority 13 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2023-49489 is a medium-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Kodcloud Kodexplorer. Its CVSS base score is 6.1 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 25.5% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

Reflective Cross Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in KodExplorer version 4.51, allows attackers to obtain sensitive information and escalate privileges via the APP_HOST parameter at config/i18n/en/main.php.

CWE(s)
CWE-79

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1539 Steal Web Session Cookie Credential Access
An adversary may steal web application or service session cookies and use them to gain access to web applications or Internet services as an authenticated user without needing credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Why these techniques?

Reflective XSS in public-facing KodExplorer web app (T1190) via APP_HOST cookie enables execution of JavaScript in victim browsers to steal web session cookies (T1539), facilitating sensitive information theft and privilege escalation.

Affected Assets

kodcloud
kodexplorer
4.51

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

CA-8 Penetration Testing
addresses: CWE-79

Penetration testing submits XSS payloads to web applications, detecting cross-site scripting flaws for subsequent remediation.

SI-10 Information Input Validation
addresses: CWE-79

Validates web inputs to reject script-related content that could produce XSS.

SI-15 Information Output Filtering
addresses: CWE-79

Output validation against expected content can reject or sanitize script content in generated web pages, reducing XSS exploitability.

References