MantisBT: Reflected XSS in admin/install.php

Overview

MantisBT 2.28.3 and earlier contains six reflected XSS injection points in /admin/install.php. User-supplied parameters are echoed into HTML without escaping via print_test_result(). No authentication is required.

A Content Security Policy (script-src 'self') prevents inline JavaScript execution, but the CSP is missing a form-action directive, allowing exploitation via credential-phishing form injection and <meta> open redirects.

Impact

• Credential phishing: Attacker crafts a URL that renders a fake login form on the real MantisBT admin page. Admin credentials are submitted to an attacker-controlled server.
• Open redirect: Victim is silently redirected to a phishing or malware site.
• UI manipulation: CSS injection can hide legitimate page content and overlay attacker-controlled HTML, enabling social engineering.

Patches

• https://github.com/mantisbt/mantisbt/commit/0f32ceabadc745239754962df91a51d5d51e3fd7
• https://github.com/mantisbt/mantisbt/commit/f2191a0d8ce438bf74171d496cf721dae025a5c0

Workarounds

Remove the /admin directory, as recommended in the Admin Guide

Resources

• https://mantisbt.org/bugs/view.php?id=37103
• related advisory GHSA-vcrw-4xvv-jh49

Credits

McCaulay Hudson (@_McCaulay) of watchTowr

Affected packages

• mantisbt/mantisbt <= 2.28.3

Remediation

Upgrade to a patched release:

• mantisbt/mantisbt 2.28.4