CVE-2021-25988 is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability affecting the ifme software developed by ifmeorg, specifically in versions 1.0.0 through v7.31.4. The vulnerability resides in the notifications section of the application and can be triggered by sending an ally request to an administrator user. Stored XSS vulnerabilities occur when malicious input is saved by the application and later rendered in a web page without proper sanitization or encoding, allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary JavaScript code in the context of the victim’s browser. In this case, the attacker must send a crafted ally request that will be stored and subsequently displayed to an admin user, who must interact with the notification for the exploit to succeed. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 5.4 (medium severity), with the vector indicating network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), requiring privileges (PR:L), user interaction (UI:R), scope changed (S:C), and low impact on confidentiality and integrity (C:L/I:L), with no impact on availability (A:N). The vulnerability requires the attacker to have some level of privileges to send the ally request, and the admin user must interact with the notification to trigger the malicious script execution. While no known exploits are reported in the wild, the vulnerability poses a risk of session hijacking, privilege escalation, or other malicious actions through script execution in the admin’s browser context. The scope change indicates that the vulnerability can affect resources beyond the initially vulnerable component, potentially impacting the broader application or user sessions.

For European organizations using ifme, particularly those with administrative users who handle ally requests and notifications, this vulnerability could lead to unauthorized actions performed with admin privileges. The exploitation could result in theft of sensitive information, such as session cookies or credentials, manipulation of administrative functions, or further compromise of the system. Given the medium severity and requirement for some privilege and user interaction, the impact is moderate but significant in environments where ifme is used for critical identity or access management functions. Organizations in sectors like finance, government, and critical infrastructure that rely on ifme for identity federation or access control could face operational disruptions or data breaches. The stored nature of the XSS increases risk as malicious payloads persist and can affect multiple admin users over time. However, the absence of known active exploitation reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, especially if attackers develop exploits targeting this vulnerability.

1. Immediate patching or upgrading to a version of ifme where this vulnerability is fixed is the most effective mitigation, though no patch links are provided here, so contacting the vendor or monitoring official channels for updates is critical. 2. Implement strict input validation and output encoding on the notifications section to sanitize ally requests and prevent injection of malicious scripts. 3. Restrict the ability to send ally requests to trusted users only, minimizing the attack surface. 4. Employ Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to limit the execution of unauthorized scripts in the admin interface. 5. Educate administrative users to be cautious when interacting with notifications, especially those originating from ally requests. 6. Monitor logs and notification activities for unusual or suspicious ally requests that could indicate exploitation attempts. 7. Consider isolating the admin interface or using multi-factor authentication to reduce the risk of session hijacking or privilege escalation resulting from XSS exploitation. 8. Conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing focusing on input handling in the notifications and ally request features.