CVE-2026-14632: Open Redirect in Ecommerce-CodeIgniter-Bootstrap — Patch Guide

Technical summary

This vulnerability is classified as an open redirect flaw (CWE-601) in the MY_Controller.php component's setReferrer function. The vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of the href parameter, allowing attackers to inject arbitrary URLs. The attack surface is remote and requires no authentication; however, exploitation depends on user interaction—typically clicking a crafted link. The CVSS v3.1 score of 4.3 reflects the low integrity impact without confidentiality or availability consequences. The open redirect mechanism is a classic trust-relationship abuse where the application redirects users based on untrusted input without proper sanitization or allowlisting.

Business impact

Open redirect vulnerabilities erode user trust and can amplify the effectiveness of phishing attacks. When a legitimate application redirects to an attacker-controlled domain, users are more likely to enter credentials or sensitive information, believing the destination is trustworthy. For e-commerce platforms, this can damage reputation, lead to credential compromise, and expose payment information. The impact is particularly severe if the vulnerable application handles user authentication or payment processing. Organizations using affected installations should weigh the reputational and compliance risks against remediation effort.

Affected systems

kirilkirkov Ecommerce-CodeIgniter-Bootstrap installations up to commit 95dfa8cebbb87ab46ae450643a07241274a74dce are vulnerable. The product uses a rolling release model, making traditional version numbering unavailable. Organizations using this project should identify all deployments and verify their commit hash against the vulnerable threshold. Custom forks or modifications may have different exposure levels; audit your specific implementation.

Exploitability

Exploitation is straightforward and requires no authentication or elevated privileges, fitting the low AC (Attack Complexity) rating. However, successful exploitation requires user interaction—the victim must click or follow a crafted link. The attack has been publicly disclosed, meaning threat actors have awareness of the technique, though the ease of exploitation for open redirects is inherently high. Automated exploitation is not practical, but social engineering combined with this vulnerability is a credible risk. Organizations should assume adversaries will attempt to weaponize this in targeted campaigns.

Remediation

Apply the patch identified as commit 213babdbaa949e94557246414db0130e01394517. Given the rolling release model, verify this commit hash in the upstream repository and update your installation to include this change. If running a fork, backport the fix or implement input validation in the setReferrer function to reject or sanitize redirect targets. Consider implementing an allowlist of permitted redirect domains as a defense-in-depth measure.

Patch guidance

Pull the latest version from the upstream repository and verify it includes commit 213babdbaa949e94557246414db0130e01394517. Test the patch in a staging environment to confirm the setReferrer function properly validates href parameters. If your deployment is a custom fork, manually inspect the patch and apply equivalent fixes. Prioritize this update if your application processes user authentication or payment transactions, as the phishing vector becomes more dangerous in these contexts.

Detection guidance

Monitor web server logs for suspicious redirect patterns: look for requests to your application followed by HTTP 302/301 responses pointing to external domains or unexpected internal hosts. Inspect referrer logs for href parameter values containing full URLs or encoded payloads. Implement content security policy (CSP) headers to prevent redirects to untrusted domains at the browser level. Security tools that track user-agent redirects can identify attacks in progress. Note that legitimate use cases may exist; focus on redirects to known malicious domains or those inconsistent with your application's intended behavior.

Why prioritize this

Although scored MEDIUM and not on the CISA KEV list, this vulnerability merits prompt attention due to public disclosure and the ease of chaining it with phishing. Open redirects are frequently exploited as part of larger campaigns, especially against e-commerce platforms. The required user interaction lowers immediate risk, but the reputational damage from phishing-enabled attacks justifies prioritization. Organizations processing sensitive customer data should treat this as high priority regardless of base CVSS score.

Risk score, explained

The CVSS v3.1 score of 4.3 (MEDIUM) reflects a vulnerability that is remotely exploitable with low complexity but requires user interaction and results only in integrity impact (the redirect itself). Confidentiality and availability are not directly affected. The score appropriately captures that this is not an unauthenticated remote code execution or system compromise; however, real-world risk may be higher when integrated with phishing tactics or present on high-value authentication endpoints. Use CVSS as a baseline, not a ceiling, for risk assessment.

Frequently asked questions