Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-35569

XSS in Apostrophecms ≤ 4.29.0

Public PoCXSS
Published
15 April 2026
Modified
30 April 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0030 22th percentile
Risk Priority 59 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-35569 is a high-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Apostrophecms Apostrophecms. Its CVSS base score is 8.7 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Browser Session Hijacking (T1185); ranked at the 22th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2026-35569 is a stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability affecting ApostropheCMS, an open-source Node.js content management system. Versions 4.28.0 and prior fail to properly encode user-controlled input in SEO-related fields, such as SEO Title and Meta Description. This input is rendered into HTML contexts including <title> tags, <meta> attributes, and JSON-LD structured data without adequate output encoding, allowing attackers to inject payloads like "></title><script>alert(1)</script>" to escape the intended context.

An authenticated attacker with low privileges (PR:L) can exploit this vulnerability over the network (AV:N) by injecting a malicious payload into the affected SEO fields. When another authenticated user views the page (UI:R), the payload executes arbitrary JavaScript in their browser, achieving high confidentiality and integrity impacts (C:H/I:H) with a changed scope (S:C). This enables the attacker to perform authenticated API requests on behalf of the victim, accessing sensitive data such as usernames, email addresses, and user roles via internal APIs, and exfiltrating it to an attacker-controlled server. The vulnerability is rated 8.7 on the CVSS 3.1 scale and maps to CWE-79 (XSS) and CWE-116 (Improper Encoding).

The issue has been addressed in ApostropheCMS version 4.29.0, as detailed in the project's GitHub security advisory (GHSA-855c-r2vq-c292) and the fixing commit (0e57dd07a56ae1ba1e3af646ba026db4d0ab5bb3), which implement proper output encoding for the affected fields. Security practitioners should upgrade to 4.29.0 or later and review any stored SEO content for malicious payloads. Additional details are available in the referenced CVE research repository.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

ApostropheCMS is an open-source Node.js content management system. Versions 4.28.0 and prior contain a stored cross-site scripting vulnerability in SEO-related fields (SEO Title and Meta Description), where user-controlled input is rendered without proper output encoding into HTML contexts including <title>…

more

tags, <meta> attributes, and JSON-LD structured data. An attacker can inject a payload such as "></title><script>alert(1)</script> to break out of the intended HTML context and execute arbitrary JavaScript in the browser of any authenticated user who views the affected page. This can be leveraged to perform authenticated API requests, access sensitive data such as usernames, email addresses, and roles via internal APIs, and exfiltrate it to an attacker-controlled server. This issue has been fixed in version 4.29.0.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1185 Browser Session Hijacking Collection
Adversaries may take advantage of security vulnerabilities and inherent functionality in browser software to change content, modify user-behaviors, and intercept information as part of various browser session hijacking techniques.
T1539 Steal Web Session Cookie Credential Access
An adversary may steal web application or service session cookies and use them to gain access to web applications or Internet services as an authenticated user without needing credentials.
T1659 Content Injection Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access and continuously communicate with victims by injecting malicious content into systems through online network traffic.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
T1189 Drive-by Compromise Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access to a system through a user visiting a website over the normal course of browsing.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-32071Shared CWE-116, CWE-79
CVE-2023-39527Shared CWE-116, CWE-79
CVE-2023-37875Shared CWE-116, CWE-79
CVE-2023-2200Shared CWE-116, CWE-79
CVE-2023-3481Shared CWE-116, CWE-79
CVE-2023-28733Shared CWE-116, CWE-79
CVE-2023-25837Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-22438Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-27614Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-47164Shared CWE-79

Affected Assets

apostrophecms
apostrophecms
≤ 4.29.0

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
  • V1.2.1
  • V1.2.3
  • V1.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing or incorrect input neutralization through targeted web-application tests.

Input validation directly enforces neutralization of untrusted data before it reaches web output generation.

Output filtering can catch or sanitize unneutralized script content before it is served to users.

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
prevents

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
prevents

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.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly require correct output encoding and escaping to preserve message structure.

finds

Secure-coding testing and automated code-analysis tools are applied to detect improper neutralization of script-related content during web-page generation.

prevents

Knowledge exchange on emerging attack techniques and patches reduces the likelihood that cross-site scripting flaws remain unaddressed in deployed applications.

prevents

Operational indicators of compromise for web-application attacks can be incorporated into WAF or input-filtering rules, lowering the likelihood that unsanitized data reaches the browser.

prevents

Requiring language-specific secure-coding standards and automated scanning during the SDLC catches missing output encoding or improper neutralization of untrusted data before the software reaches production.

prevents

Application security requirements include explicit rules for safe output handling and encoding.

References