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HTML injection in search results via plaintext message highlighting

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Apr 25, 2023 in matrix-org/matrix-react-sdk • Updated Nov 4, 2023

Package

npm matrix-react-sdk (npm)

Affected versions

< 3.71.0

Patched versions

3.71.0

Description

Impact

Plain text messages containing HTML tags are rendered as HTML in the search results. To exploit this, an attacker needs to trick a user into searching for a specific message containing an HTML injection payload.

Cross-site scripting is possible by including resources from recaptcha.net and gstatic.com which are included in the default CSP.

Thanks to Cadence Ember for finding the injection and to S1m for finding possible XSS vectors.

Patches

Version 3.71.0 of the SDK fixes the issue.

Workarounds

Restarting the client will clear the injection.

References

@andybalaam andybalaam published to matrix-org/matrix-react-sdk Apr 25, 2023
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Apr 25, 2023
Reviewed Apr 25, 2023
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Apr 25, 2023
Last updated Nov 4, 2023

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:L

EPSS score

0.087%
(38th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2023-30609

GHSA ID

GHSA-xv83-x443-7rmw

Source code

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