CVE-2023-48219: Tinymce Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerability
MODERATECVE-2023-48219 is a MODERATE (CVSS 6.1) cross-site scripting vulnerability (CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')) affecting Tinymce libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves tinymce vulnerable to mutation cross-site scripting via special characters in unescaped text nodes. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 5.10.9, 6.7.3.
CVE-2023-48219 at a Glance
Security Impact
CVSS: 6.1
The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N).
How to Fix CVE-2023-48219
To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Tinymce dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.
npm install tinymce@5.10.9
npm install tinymce@6.7.3
Upgrade tinymce/tinymce to 5.10.9
Upgrade tinymce/tinymce to 6.7.3
Upgrade TinyMCE to 5.10.9
Upgrade TinyMCE to 6.7.3
Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:
npm ls tinymce
How to Check if You Are Affected
To determine whether your Node.js application is affected by CVE-2023-48219, inspect your project dependencies using npm:
npm ls tinymce
Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Tinymce in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 5.10.9), your application is affected.
Note: The npm ls tinymce command inspects dependencies declared in your package.json and lockfile; it does not perform automated runtime dynamic scanning.
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 Tinymce, 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
CVE-2023-48219 Affected Tinymce Versions
6 component(s)| Product / Package | Ecosystem | Affected Versions | Fixed Version |
|---|---|---|---|
|
tinymce
|
npm |
< 5.10.9
|
5.10.9
|
|
tinymce
|
npm |
≥ 6.0.0
< 6.7.3
|
6.7.3
|
|
tinymce/tinymce
|
Packagist |
< 5.10.9
|
5.10.9
|
|
tinymce/tinymce
|
Packagist |
≥ 6.0.0
< 6.7.3
|
6.7.3
|
|
TinyMCE
|
NuGet |
< 5.10.9
|
5.10.9
|
|
TinyMCE
|
NuGet |
≥ 6.0.0
< 6.7.3
|
6.7.3
|
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2023-48219?
Which Tinymce versions are affected?
What version fixes CVE-2023-48219?
Is tinymce affected?
Is tinymce/tinymce affected?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-48219?
What CWE is associated with CVE-2023-48219?
How can I check npm dependencies for CVE-2023-48219?
Machine-readable OSV JSON
OSV v1.5 Schema
{
"schema_version" : "1.4.0",
"id" : "GHSA-v626-r774-j7f8",
"modified" : "2023-11-15T23:26:01Z",
"published" : "2023-11-15T18:32:34Z",
"aliases" : [ "CVE-2023-48219" ],
"summary" : "TinyMCE vulnerable to mutation Cross-site Scripting via special characters in unescaped text nodes",
"details" : "### Impact\nA [mutation cross-site scripting](https://researchgate.net/publication/266654651_mXSS_attacks_Attacking_well-secured_web-applications_by_using_innerHTML_mutations) (mXSS) vulnerability was discovered in TinyMCE’s core undo/redo functionality and other APIs and plugins. Text nodes within specific parents are not escaped upon serialization according to the [HTML standard](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/parsing.html#serialising-html-fragments). If such text nodes contain a special character reserved as an internal marker, they can be combined with other HTML patterns to form malicious snippets. These snippets pass the initial sanitisation layer when the content is parsed into the editor body, but can trigger XSS when the special internal marker is removed from the content and re-parsed. Such mutations occur when serialised HTML content is processed before being stored in the undo stack, or when the following APIs and plugins are used:\n* [`tinymce.Editor.getContent({ format: 'raw' })`](https://tiny.cloud/docs/tinymce/6/apis/tinymce.editor/#getContent)\n* [`tinymce.Editor.resetContent()`](https://tiny.cloud/docs/tinymce/6/apis/tinymce.editor/#resetContent)\n* [Autosave Plugin](https://tiny.cloud/docs/tinymce/6/autosave/)\n\n### Patches\nThis vulnerability has been patched in TinyMCE 6.7.3 by:\n* ensuring that any unescaped text nodes which contain the special internal marker are emptied before removing the marker from the rest of the HTML, and\n* removing the special internal marker from content strings passed to `Editor.setContent`, `Editor.insertContent`, and `Editor.resetContent` APIs to prevent them from being loaded into the editor as user-provided content.\n\n### Fix\nTo avoid this vulnerability:\n- Upgrade to TinyMCE 6.7.3 or higher for TinyMCE 6.x.\n- Upgrade to TinyMCE 5.10.9 or higher for TinyMCE 5.x.\n\n### Acknowledgements\nTiny Technologies would like to thank Masato Kinugawa of [Cure53](https://cure53.de/) for discovering this vulnerability.\n\n### References\n- [TinyMCE 5.10.9 Release Notes](https://tiny.cloud/docs/release-notes/release-notes5109/)\n- [TinyMCE 6.7.3 Release Notes](https://tiny.cloud/docs/tinymce/6/6.7.3-release-notes/)\n\n### For more information\n\nEmail us at [infosec@tiny.cloud](mailto:infosec@tiny.cloud)\nOpen an issue in the [TinyMCE repo](https://github.com/tinymce/tinymce/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+sort%3Aupdated-desc)",
"severity" : [ {
"type" : "CVSS_V3",
"score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N"
} ],
"affected" : [ {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "npm",
"name" : "tinymce"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "0"
}, {
"fixed" : "5.10.9"
} ]
} ]
}, {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "npm",
"name" : "tinymce"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "6.0.0"
}, {
"fixed" : "6.7.3"
} ]
} ]
}, {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "Packagist",
"name" : "tinymce/tinymce"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "0"
}, {
"fixed" : "5.10.9"
} ]
} ]
}, {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "Packagist",
"name" : "tinymce/tinymce"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "6.0.0"
}, {
"fixed" : "6.7.3"
} ]
} ]
}, {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "NuGet",
"name" : "TinyMCE"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "0"
}, {
"fixed" : "5.10.9"
} ]
} ]
}, {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "NuGet",
"name" : "TinyMCE"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "6.0.0"
}, {
"fixed" : "6.7.3"
} ]
} ]
} ],
"references" : [ {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/tinymce/tinymce/security/advisories/GHSA-v626-r774-j7f8"
}, {
"type" : "ADVISORY",
"url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-48219"
}, {
"type" : "PACKAGE",
"url" : "https://github.com/tinymce/tinymce"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/tinymce/tinymce/releases/tag/5.10.9"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/tinymce/tinymce/releases/tag/6.7.3"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://tiny.cloud/docs/release-notes/release-notes5109"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://tiny.cloud/docs/tinymce/6/6.7.3-release-notes"
} ],
"database_specific" : {
"cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-79" ],
"severity" : "MODERATE",
"github_reviewed" : true,
"github_reviewed_at" : "2023-11-15T18:32:34Z",
"nvd_published_at" : "2023-11-15T19:15:07Z"
}
}