Daily Mail Unvalidated Redirect / Cross Site Scripting

`*Daily Mail Registration Page Unvalidated Redirects and Forwards & XSS Web  
Security Problem*  
  
  
*Website Description:*  
"The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by  
the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord  
Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily  
newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched  
in 1982. Scottish and Irish editions of the daily paper were launched in  
1947 and 2006 respectively. The Daily Mail was Britain's first daily  
newspaper aimed at the newly-literate "lower-middle class market resulting  
from mass education, combining a low retail price with plenty of  
competitions, prizes and promotional gimmicks", and was the first British  
paper to sell a million copies a day. It was at the outset a newspaper for  
women, the first to provide features especially for them, and as of the  
second-half of 2013 had a 54.77% female readership, the only British  
newspaper whose female readers constitute more than 50% of its demographic.  
It had an average daily circulation of 1,708,006 copies in March 2014.  
Between July and December 2013 it had an average daily readership of  
approximately 3.951 million, of whom approximately 2.503 million were in  
the ABC1 demographic and 1.448 million in the C2DE demographic. Its website  
has more than 100 million unique visitors per month." (Wikipedia)  
  
  
One of its website's Alexa rank is 93 on January 01 2015. The website is  
one of the most popular websites in the United Kingdom.  
  
  
The Unvalidated Redirects and Forwards problem has not been patched, while  
the XSS problem has been patched.  
  
  
  
Discover and Reporter:  
Wang Jing, Division of Mathematical Sciences (MAS), School of Physical and  
Mathematical Sciences (SPMS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU),  
Singapore. (@justqdjing)  
http://www.tetraph.com/wangjing  
  
  
  
  
  
*(1) Daily mail Registration Page Unvalidated Redirects and Forwards Web  
Security Problem*  
  
  
*(1.1) Vulnerability Description:*  
Daily online websites have a cyber security problem. Hacker can exploit it  
by Open Redirect (Unvalidated Redirects and Forwards) attacks. During the  
tests, all Daily mail websites (Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday & Metro media  
group) use the same mechanism. These websites include dailymail.co.uk,  
thisismoney.co.uk, and mailonsunday.co.uk.  
  
  
  
  
Google Dork:  
"Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group"  
  
  
  
The vulnerability occurs at "&targetUrl" parameter in "logout.html?" page,  
i.e.  
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/registration/logout.html?targetUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fgoogle.com  
  
  
  
  
  
*(1.2.1) *Use the following tests to illustrate the scenario painted above.  
  
The redirected webpage address is "http://diebiyi.com/articles". Can  
suppose that this webpage is malicious.  
  
Vulnerable URLs:  
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/registration/logout.html?targetUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fdailymail.co.uk  
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/registration/logout.html?targetUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fhao123.com/  
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/registration/logout.html?targetUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpinterest.com  
  
  
POC Code:  
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/registration/logout.html?targetUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fdiebiyi.com/articles  
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/registration/logout.html?targetUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fdiebiyi.com/articles  
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/registration/logout.html?targetUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fdiebiyi.com/articles  
  
  
  
  
*POC Video:*  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU-HJGe5BWE&feature=youtu.be  
  
  
  
*Blog Details:*  
http://tetraph.com/security/website-test/daily-mail-url-redirection/  
http://securityrelated.blogspot.com/2015/10/daily-mail-registration-page.html  
  
  
  
  
  
*(1.2.2)* The program code flaw can be attacked without user login. Tests  
were performed on Microsoft IE (9 9.0.8112.16421) of Windows 8, Mozilla  
Firefox (37.0.2) & Google Chromium 42.0.2311 (64-bit) of Ubuntu  
(14.04.2)，and Apple Safari 6.1.6 of Mac OS X v10.9 Mavericks.  
  
These bugs were found by using URFDS (Unvalidated Redirects and Forwards  
Detection System).  
  
  
  
  
  
*(1.2) Description of Open Redirect:*  
Here is the description of Open Redirect: "A web application accepts a  
user-controlled input that specifies a link to an external site, and uses  
that link in a Redirect. This simplifies phishing attacks. An http  
parameter may contain a URL value and could cause the web application to  
redirect the request to the specified URL. By modifying the URL value to a  
malicious site, an attacker may successfully launch a phishing scam and  
steal user credentials. Because the server name in the modified link is  
identical to the original site, phishing attempts have a more trustworthy  
appearance." (From CWE)  
  
  
  
  
*(1.3) Vulnerability Disclosure:*  
These vulnerabilities have not been patched.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
*(2) Daily Mail Website XSS Cyber Security Zero-Day Vulnerability*  
  
  
*(2.1) Vulnerability description:*  
DailyMail has a security problem. Criminals can exploit it by XSS attacks.  
  
The vulnerability occurs at "reportAbuseInComment.html?" page with  
"&commentId" parameter, i.e.  
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/reportAbuseInComment.html?articleId=346288&commentId=877038  
  
  
POC Code:  
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/reportAbuseInComment.html?articleId=346288&commentId="><img  
src=x onerror=prompt('justqdjing')>  
  
  
The vulnerability can be attacked without user login. Tests were performed  
on Mozilla Firefox (34.0) in Ubuntu (14.04) and Microsoft IE (9.0.15) in  
Windows 7.  
  
  
  
*POC Video:*  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oig-ZrlJDf8&feature=youtu.be  
  
  
  
*Blog Detail:*  
http://tetraph.com/security/web-security/daily-mail-xss-bug/  
http://securityrelated.blogspot.com/2015/10/daily-mail-online-website-xss-cyber.html  
  
  
  
  
  
*(2.2) What is XSS?*  
"Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of computer security vulnerability  
typically found in web applications. XSS enables attackers to inject  
client-side script into web pages viewed by other users. A cross-site  
scripting vulnerability may be used by attackers to bypass access controls  
such as the same-origin policy. Cross-site scripting carried out on  
websites accounted for roughly 84% of all security vulnerabilities  
documented by Symantec as of 2007. Their effect may range from a petty  
nuisance to a significant security risk, depending on the sensitivity of  
the data handled by the vulnerable site and the nature of any security  
mitigation implemented by the site's owner." (Wikipedia)  
  
  
  
  
*(2.3) Vulnerability Disclosure:*  
This vulnerability has been patched.  
  
  
  
  
Blog Details:  
http://tetraph.com/security/website-test/daily-mail-open-redirect-xss/  
http://securityrelated.blogspot.com/2015/10/daily-mail-url-redirection-and-xss-bug.html  
  
  
  
  
  
  
--  
Jing Wang,  
Division of Mathematical Sciences (MAS),  
School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (SPMS),  
Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.  
http://www.tetraph.com/wangjing/  
https://twitter.com/justqdjing  
  
  
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