Security Resilience

CVE-2023-48705

XSS in Networktocode Nautobot ≤ 1.6.6

Published
22 November 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0054 44th percentile
Risk Priority 51 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-48705 is a high-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Networktocode Nautobot. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Protocol or Service Impersonation (T1001.003); ranked at the 44th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Nautobot is a Network Source of Truth and Network Automation Platform built as a web application All users of Nautobot versions earlier than 1.6.6 or 2.0.5 are potentially affected by a cross-site scripting vulnerability. Due to incorrect usage of Django's…

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`mark_safe()` API when rendering certain types of user-authored content; including custom links, job buttons, and computed fields; it is possible that users with permission to create or edit these types of content could craft a malicious payload (such as JavaScript code) that would be executed when rendering pages containing this content. The maintainers have fixed the incorrect uses of `mark_safe()` (generally by replacing them with appropriate use of `format_html()` instead) to prevent such malicious data from being executed. Users on Nautobot 1.6.x LTM should upgrade to v1.6.6 and users on Nautobot 2.0.x should upgrade to v2.0.5. Appropriate object permissions can and should be applied to restrict which users are permitted to create or edit the aforementioned types of user-authored content. Other than that, there is no direct workaround available.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.
T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access cached domain credentials used to allow authentication to occur in the event a domain controller is unavailable.
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
T1011 Exfiltration Over Other Network Medium Exfiltration
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over a different network medium than the command and control channel.
T1012 Query Registry Discovery
Adversaries may interact with the Windows Registry to gather information about the system, configuration, and installed software.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-5001Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-5705Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-0280Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-0309Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-42478Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-6075Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-4173Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-46199Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-30482Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-2498Shared CWE-79

Affected Assets

networktocode
nautobot
≤ 1.6.6 · 2.0.0 — 2.0.5

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.1.2
  • V1.3.2

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.

addresses: CWE-79

Penetration testing submits XSS payloads to web applications, detecting cross-site scripting flaws for subsequent remediation.

addresses: CWE-79

Validates web inputs to reject script-related content that could produce XSS.

addresses: CWE-79

Output validation against expected content can reject or sanitize script content in generated web pages, reducing XSS exploitability.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly target introduction of XSS via coding standards/testing (mostly), yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors unaddressed (partial).

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

Patching and EOL replacement can remediate known XSS instances in libraries or frameworks (partial) but do nothing to enforce input neutralization in application code (none).

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

removes
removes
removes
removes
blocks

A.5.6 only promotes membership in groups to improve knowledge, receive alerts, and share information; it performs no action that stops XSS exploitation (or even the underlying neutralization defect) and is a pure dependency for other controls per the owner's labeling rule.

References