Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
IPFire 2.21 Core Update 127 has multiple reflected cross-site scripting issues in the firewall host management page. An attacker with some access could cause malicious JavaScript to run in an authenticated user’s browser if that user interacts with a crafted request. Business impact is mainly account/session misuse or unauthorized UI actions, not direct system takeover.
Executive priority
Treat as a moderate-priority firewall administration risk. Prioritize internet-exposed or broadly accessible admin interfaces first. It does not indicate direct firewall compromise, but successful XSS against administrators can support credential theft, session abuse, or unauthorized configuration changes.
Technical view
CVE-2019-25400 affects IPFire 2.21 Core Update 127 in fwhosts.cgi. Multiple POST parameters are vulnerable to reflected XSS, mapped to CWE-79. CVSS 3.1 is 5.4: network reachable, low complexity, low privileges required, user interaction required, changed scope, low confidentiality and integrity impact, no availability impact.
Likely exposure
Organizations running IPFire 2.21 Core Update 127, especially where the web administration interface is reachable by multiple users or less-trusted networks. Exposure is lower if administrative access is tightly restricted and users are trained against suspicious links or requests.
Exploitation context
A public Exploit-DB reference exists, so technical details are publicly available. The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. Exploitation requires privileges and user interaction, consistent with reflected XSS rather than unauthenticated remote code execution.
Researcher notes
The affected script is fwhosts.cgi, with multiple host, group, service, and remark-related parameters reported as injection points. Avoid assuming all IPFire versions are affected; the source bundle identifies only IPFire 2.21 Core Update 127.
Mitigation direction
- Identify any IPFire 2.21 Core Update 127 systems.
- Restrict IPFire administrative interface access to trusted management networks.
- Review IPFire vendor guidance for fixed versions or supported upgrade paths.
- Upgrade affected systems if vendor guidance identifies a corrected release.
- Limit administrative users and apply least-privilege access where possible.
Validation and detection
- Confirm IPFire version and Core Update level on each firewall.
- Check whether fwhosts.cgi is accessible from untrusted networks.
- Review web server or admin logs for unusual fwhosts.cgi POST activity.
- Verify administrative interface exposure against network access policy.
- Track vendor or advisory updates for remediation confirmation.
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-79: User-session and phishing behavior lookup
Client-side and session-facing weaknesses should be reviewed alongside initial-access and user-execution behaviors. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2019-25400 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 5.4 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N2.32.7Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5.4MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- ExploitDB-46344CVE reference · exploit
- IPFire Official WebsiteCVE reference · product
- IPFire 2.21 Core Update 127 DownloadCVE reference · patch
- VulnCheck Advisory: IPFire 2.21 Core Update 127 Multiple XSS via fwhosts.cgiCVE reference · third-party-advisory
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.