CVE-2016-7103 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.1) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in org.webjars.npm:jquery-ui. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for org.webjars.npm:jquery-ui — see the affected versions and patch details below.
jQuery-UI vulnerable to Cross-site Scripting in dialog closeText
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2016-7103 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,636 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 10–50% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
jquery-uinpmDescription
Affected versions of jquery-ui are vulnerable to a cross-site scripting vulnerability when arbitrary user input is supplied as the value of the closeText parameter in the dialog function.
jQuery-UI is a library for manipulating UI elements via jQuery.
Version 1.11.4 has a cross site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the closeText parameter of the dialog function. If your application passes user input to this parameter, it may be vulnerable to XSS via this attack vector.
Recommendation
Upgrade to jQuery-UI 1.12.0 or later.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.webjars.npm:jquery-ui | all versions | 1.12.0org.webjars.npm:jquery-ui:1.12.0 |
| 📦npm | jquery-ui | all versions | 1.12.0npm install jquery-ui@1.12.0 |
| .NETNuGet | jQuery.UI.Combined | all versions | 1.12.0dotnet add package jQuery.UI.Combined --version 1.12.0 |
| 💎RubyGems | jquery-ui-rails | all versions | 6.0.0bundle update jquery-ui-rails --conservative |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.webjars.npm:jquery-ui, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.webjars.npm:jquery-ui to 1.12.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2016-7103 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2016-7103 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2016-7103. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
Red Hat Enterprise Satellite 5 is now in phase 3 of the support and maintenance life cycle. This issue is not currently planned to be addressed in future updates. For additional information, refer to the Red Hat Satellite 5 Life Cycle: https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/satellite.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform 7.0 (Kilo) for RHEL 7 | python-XStatic-jquery-ui-0:1.12.0.1-1.el7ost | RHSA-2017:0161 |
| Red Hat OpenStack Platform 8.0 (Liberty) | python-XStatic-jquery-ui-0:1.12.0.1-1.el7ost | RHSA-2016:2932 |
| Red Hat OpenStack Platform 9.0 (Mitaka) | python-XStatic-jquery-ui-0:1.12.0.1-1.el7ost | RHSA-2016:2933 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2016-7103 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2016-7103 across Maven, npm, NuGet dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.