Executive brief
HAX CMS is a content management system used to build and manage web applications. The application lacks protections against clickjacking, a technique where attackers embed a web page inside an invisible iframe to trick users into clicking hidden elements. This could allow attackers to conduct social engineering attacks targeting the login page or other sensitive functions, potentially leading to unauthorized account access or unintended actions by legitimate users.
Technical details
The vulnerability is a Clickjacking / UI Redressing attack (CWE-1021) caused by missing frame-ancestors directives in Content-Security-Policy or X-Frame-Options headers. All pages in the HAX CMS application, including both the CMS interface and generated sites, fail to restrict embedding within iframes. The attack requires no authentication or special privileges and is triggered through user interaction—an attacker crafts a page that loads the HAX CMS login page or other sensitive functionality in a hidden iframe and overlays deceptive UI elements to coerce user clicks. An unauthenticated attacker can perform UI redressing attacks to manipulate users into performing unintended actions. Patches are available: version 11.0.13 for npm's @haxtheweb/haxcms-nodejs and version 11.0.8 for the PHP variant (elmsln/haxcms), both adding frameAncestors or frame-ancestors CSP directives.
Affected products
- HAX haxcms-nodejs <11.0.13
- ELMSLN haxcms <11.0.8
Timeline
- 2025-07-21: disclosed: Advisory published on GitHub
- 2025-07-21: patched: Patches released: haxcms-nodejs 11.0.13 and haxcms-php 11.0.8