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RefbaseApplication

CVE-2015-6011

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-09-28
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 0.9.6 or later.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Web Reference Database (aka refbase) through 0.9.6 and bleeding-edge before 2015-01-08 allows remote attackers to conduct XML injection attacks via (1) the id parameter to unapi.php or (2) the stylesheet parameter to sru.php.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Web Reference Database (refbase) versions through 0.9.6 and bleeding-edge versions before 2015-01-08 contain an XML injection vulnerability. Remote attackers can inject malicious XML content via the 'id' parameter in unapi.php and the 'stylesheet' parameter in sru.php by supplying specially crafted input that gets embedded in XML output without proper sanitization.

MitigationApply input validation and proper XML encoding/sanitization to the 'id' and 'stylesheet' parameters in unapi.php and sru.php respectively. Alternatively, upgrade to a patched version if available.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
RefbaseApplication
Affected:<= 0.9.6

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Partial
Availability
None

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify refbase is installed
    Locate the refbase installation directory. Check for the presence of key refbase files such as index.php, unapi.php, and sru.php in the web root or application directory.
    Affected if The application directory contains refbase source files, particularly unapi.php and sru.php in an accessible web location.
  2. Determine installed refbase version
    Open the file 'initialize/db.inc.php' or check for a 'version' file in the refbase root directory. Alternatively, check the footer of the web interface for a version number.
    Affected if The installed version is 0.9.6 or lower, or the version is marked as 'bleeding-edge' with a date before 2015-01-08.
  3. Confirm unapi.php is accessible
    Attempt to access the unapi.php endpoint via HTTP (for example, yourserver.com/path/to/refbase/unapi.php). Observe whether the script responds with XML output.
    Affected if The endpoint responds and returns XML content, indicating the unapi.php module is enabled and processing requests.
  4. Test id parameter for XML injection in unapi.php
    Send a crafted request to unapi.php with the 'id' parameter containing XML-like content such as '<!DOCTYPE foo><foo>&test;</foo>'. Inspect the returned XML to see if the input is reflected without encoding or sanitization.
    Affected if The returned XML output contains the unescaped malicious XML content from the 'id' parameter, indicating the vulnerability is present.
  5. Confirm sru.php is accessible
    Attempt to access the sru.php endpoint via HTTP (for example, yourserver.com/path/to/refbase/sru.php). Observe whether the script responds with XML or SRU protocol output.
    Affected if The endpoint responds and returns XML content, indicating the sru.php module is enabled and processing requests.
  6. Test stylesheet parameter for XML injection in sru.php
    Send a crafted request to sru.php with the 'stylesheet' parameter containing XML-like content such as '<!ENTITY x SYSTEM "file:///">'. Inspect the returned XML to see if the input is reflected without encoding or sanitization.
    Affected if The returned XML output contains the unescaped malicious XML content from the 'stylesheet' parameter, indicating the vulnerability is present.

Your environment is affected if a refbase installation with version 0.9.6 or lower (or bleeding-edge pre-2015-01-08) has accessible unapi.php or sru.php endpoints that reflect unsanitized XML content from the 'id' or 'stylesheet' parameters respectively.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 0.9.6
Interim mitigation

Apply input validation and proper XML encoding/sanitization to the 'id' and 'stylesheet' parameters in unapi.php and sru.php respectively. Alternatively, upgrade to a patched version if available.

Fix this in Refbase Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-6011 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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