CVE-2023-39517
Published: 21 June 2024
Summary
CVE-2023-39517 is a high-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Joplin Project Joplin. Its CVSS base score is 8.2 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 29.6% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-43239
Vulnerability details
Joplin is a free, open source note taking and to-do application. A Cross site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in affected versions allows clicking on an untrusted image link to execute arbitrary shell commands. The HTML sanitizer (`packages/renderer/htmlUtils.ts::sanitizeHtml`) preserves `<map>` `<area>` links.…
more
However, unlike `<a>` links, the `target` and `href` attributes are not removed. Additionally, because the note preview pane isn't sandboxed to prevent top navigation, links with `target` set to `_top` can replace the toplevel electron page. Because any toplevel electron page, with Joplin's setup, has access to `require` and can require node libraries, a malicious replacement toplevel page can import `child_process` and execute arbitrary shell commands. This issue has been fixed in commit 7c52c3e9a81a52ef1b42a951f9deb9d378d59b0f which is included in release version 2.12.8. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Penetration testing submits XSS payloads to web applications, detecting cross-site scripting flaws for subsequent remediation.
Validates web inputs to reject script-related content that could produce XSS.
Output validation against expected content can reject or sanitize script content in generated web pages, reducing XSS exploitability.