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Expense TrackerApplication · Oretnom23

CVE-2023-5286

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-09-29
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

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
A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in SourceCodester Expense Tracker App v1. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the file add_category.php of the component Category Handler. The manipulation of the argument category_name leads to cross site scripting. The attack may be launched remotely. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used. VDB-240914 is the identifier assigned to this vulnerability.

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

A stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists in the SourceCodester Expense Tracker App v1 within the add_category.php file. The vulnerability stems from insufficient sanitization of the category_name parameter when processing new category submissions through the Category Handler component. An attacker can inject malicious JavaScript code that executes when other users view the category list.

MitigationImplement proper input validation and output encoding for the category_name parameter in add_category.php. All user-supplied input should be sanitized using appropriate functions (such as htmlspecialchars() with ENT_QUOTES) before storage and before display to prevent XSS execution.

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
Expense TrackerApplication
Affected:= 1.0

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
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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 Expense Tracker application installation
    Check if Oretnom23 Expense Tracker v1.0 is installed on the server by locating typical installation directories (e.g., /var/www/html/, /htdocs/, or C:\inetpub\wwwroot\) and identifying the application's index.php or config files.
    Affected if The application directory contains SourceCodester Expense Tracker files and the version is 1.0.
  2. Locate vulnerable add_category.php file
    Search the web root for the add_category.php file - typically found in the admin or category subdirectories of the expense tracker installation.
    Affected if The file add_category.php exists in the application directory.
  3. Confirm Category Handler component is active
    Verify that the Category Handler functionality is enabled by checking if add_category.php is accessible via HTTP/HTTPS request and processes the category_name parameter.
    Affected if The add_category.php page loads and accepts user input through the category_name parameter.
  4. Check category list display functionality
    Identify the page that displays the category list (often category_list.php, view_category.php, or similar) which would render the stored category_name data.
    Affected if A category list view page exists and retrieves category data from the database for display.
  5. Review input handling in add_category.php
    Examine the add_category.php source code to determine if the category_name parameter is processed without proper sanitization (checking for absence of htmlspecialchars, ENT_QUOTES, or similar output encoding).
    Affected if The category_name input is stored without sanitization functions like htmlspecialchars() before database insertion.

The environment is affected if Oretnom23 Expense Tracker v1.0 is installed with the add_category.php file present and the Category Handler component accepts and stores the category_name parameter without sanitization, allowing stored XSS to execute when the category list is viewed.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement proper input validation and output encoding for the category_name parameter in add_category.php. All user-supplied input should be sanitized using appropriate functions (such as htmlspecialchars() with ENT_QUOTES) before storage and before display to prevent XSS execution.

Fix this in Expense Tracker 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-2023-5286 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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