CVE-2026-44282: decidim-elections Election Question Titles Allow Stored Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-9mvp-w4rr-5c6x
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CVSS 4.8
CWE-79
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2026-44282 is a MODERATE (CVSS 4.8) election question titles allow stored vulnerability (CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')) affecting decidim-elections libraries in the RubyGems ecosystem. The issue involves election question titles allow stored script execution. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.32.0.

CVE-2026-44282 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2026-44282
GHSA Identifier GHSA-9mvp-w4rr-5c6x
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 4.8
CWE Classification CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
Affected Product decidim-elections
Package Ecosystem RubyGems
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 4.8

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required High (PR:H)
User Interaction Required (UI:R)
Scope Changed (S:C)
Confidentiality Low (C:L)
Integrity Low (I:L)
Availability None (A:N)

How to Fix CVE-2026-44282

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected decidim-elections dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

decidim-elections fixed: 0.32.0 
Upgrade decidim-elections to 0.32.0
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

inspect dependencies for decidim-elections

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2026-44282, inspect your project dependencies for decidim-elections:

inspect dependencies for decidim-elections

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of decidim-elections in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.32.0), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting'), where the product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users. In decidim-elections, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

## Description A low-privilege process-scoped admin who can manage elections can store arbitrary HTML in the question statement/body without sanitization, and the public elections UI renders that value unsafely. ## Technical description This stored XSS appears because election question titles are rendered as trusted HTML instead of sanitized text. The election question editor stores `question.body` as a normal translatable string, and the public helper `question_title` returns that value with `html_safe` and no sanitization boundary, so any user who can edit election questions can persist markup or script-bearing payloads that later render on public election pages. <img width="1506" height="1285" alt="decidim-election-01" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/2e17f396-10f9-4423-bb97-5badbdb20d21" /> <img width="1540" height="657" alt="decidim-election-02" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/178adb7b-d00e-4b5d-9237-f391e523973f" /> ### Impact A low-privilege process-scoped admin or other election editor with question-management rights can persist JavaScript that executes in visitor's browsers on public election pages and voting booth screens. ### Patches See https://github.com/decidim/decidim/pull/16659 ### Workarounds Developers should review their implementation's administrator accesses and not give access to untrustworthy users ### Resources OWASP XSS Injection ### Credits This issue was discovered in a security audit organized by the [Decidim Association](https://decidim.org) and made by [Radically Open Security](https://www.radicallyopensecurity.com/) against Decidim financed by [NGI](https://ngi.eu/).

CVE-2026-44282 Affected decidim-elections Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.32.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
decidim-elections
gem/decidim-elections
RubyGems
< 0.32.0
0.32.0

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/decidim/decidim/security/advisories/GHSA-9mvp-w4rr-5c6x
decidim-elections Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/decidim/decidim/pull/16659
decidim-elections Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/decidim/decidim

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-44282?
CVE-2026-44282 is a security vulnerability in decidim-elections involving Election question titles allow stored script execution under CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting').
Which decidim-elections versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.32.0 across affected packages: decidim-elections.
What version fixes CVE-2026-44282?
Upgrading to 0.32.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is decidim-elections affected?
Yes, decidim-elections is affected in releases prior to 0.32.0. Upgrade your dependency to 0.32.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-44282?
CVE-2026-44282 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 4.8 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-44282?
CVE-2026-44282 is classified under CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') (The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users.).
How can I check RubyGems dependencies for CVE-2026-44282?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for decidim-elections'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-9mvp-w4rr-5c6x",
  "modified" : "2026-09-09T17:59:52Z",
  "published" : "2026-09-09T17:59:52Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-44282" ],
  "summary" : "decidim-elections: Election question titles allow stored script execution",
  "details" : "## Description\n\nA low-privilege process-scoped admin who can manage elections can store arbitrary HTML in the question statement/body without sanitization, and the public elections UI renders that value unsafely.\n\n## Technical description\n \nThis stored XSS appears because election question titles are rendered as trusted HTML instead of sanitized text. The election question editor stores `question.body` as a normal translatable string, and the public helper `question_title` returns that value with `html_safe` and no sanitization boundary, so any user who can edit election questions can persist markup or script-bearing payloads that later render on public election pages.\n\n<img width=\"1506\" height=\"1285\" alt=\"decidim-election-01\" src=\"https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/2e17f396-10f9-4423-bb97-5badbdb20d21\" />\n<img width=\"1540\" height=\"657\" alt=\"decidim-election-02\" src=\"https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/178adb7b-d00e-4b5d-9237-f391e523973f\" />\n\n### Impact\n\nA low-privilege process-scoped admin or other election editor with question-management rights can persist JavaScript that executes in visitor's browsers on public election pages and voting booth screens.\n\n### Patches\n\nSee https://github.com/decidim/decidim/pull/16659\n\n### Workarounds\n\nDevelopers should review their implementation's administrator accesses and not give access to untrustworthy users\n\n### Resources\n\nOWASP XSS Injection\n\n### Credits\n\nThis issue was discovered in a security audit organized by the [Decidim Association](https://decidim.org) and made by [Radically Open Security](https://www.radicallyopensecurity.com/) against Decidim financed by [NGI](https://ngi.eu/).",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "RubyGems",
      "name" : "decidim-elections"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.32.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/decidim/decidim/security/advisories/GHSA-9mvp-w4rr-5c6x"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/decidim/decidim/pull/16659"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/decidim/decidim"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-79" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-09-09T17:59:52Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}