# CVE-2008-2398: AppServ - XSS

> Live exploitation tracking for CVE-2008-2398 by the CrowdSec Live Exploit Tracker, built from real-world attack data crowdsourced from CrowdSec's global network.

Page: https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2008-2398

## Key facts

- **Exploitation phase:** Limited Exploitation. The vulnerability is known but shows very limited attacker interest or exploitation activity.
- **CVSS score:** 4.3
- **Public exploit available:** Yes
- **Affected products:** Appserv Project AppServ
- **Weaknesses:** CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting'))
- **Tags:** web_application

## Description

Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in index.php in AppServ Open Project 2.5.10 and earlier allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the appservlang parameter.

## CrowdSec analysis

[CVE-2008-2398](https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/CVE-2008-2398) is a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability affecting AppServ Open Project, where attackers can inject arbitrary scripts or HTML into web pages via crafted requests.

CrowdSec has been tracking this vulnerability and its exploits since 20th of May 2025.

Data from the CrowdSec community indicates that exploitation of CVE-2008-2398 is highly selective and intelligence-driven. Threat actors use advanced reconnaissance and carefully choose their targets, often as part of sophisticated campaigns or advanced persistent threat operations.
CrowdSec network telemetry also shows that exploitation of CVE-2008-2398 has significantly declined over the past week. Attack volumes are well below the long-term average, suggesting attackers are rapidly losing interest. The vulnerability appears to be falling out of active use across most threat landscapes.

Observed attack patterns typically target URLs containing `/index.php` with manipulated input parameters.

## Timeline

- 2008-05-21: CVE Published. CVE-2008-2398 is published to NVD.
- 2025-05-20: Rule Released. CrowdSec releases a rule to detect CVE-2008-2398 exploitation attempts against the CrowdSec Network.
- 2025-05-20: CrowdSec First Seen. CrowdSec observes in-the-wild exploitation of CVE-2008-2398 for the first time.

## References

- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/42546
- https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2008/CVE-2008-2398.yaml

## Live exploitation data

The [Live Exploit Tracker page](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2008-2398) follows observed exploitation activity for CVE-2008-2398. [Request an API key](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/request-api-key) for full access to its exploitation timeline, attacking IP addresses and blocklists.