CVE-2017-6099 — merchant-sdk-php
MEDIUMCVE-2017-6099 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.1) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in paypal/merchant-sdk-php. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for paypal/merchant-sdk-php — see the affected versions and patch details below.
PayPal PHP Merchant SDK Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
paypal/merchant-sdk-phpReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in GetAuthDetails.html.php in PayPal PHP Merchant SDK (aka merchant-sdk-php) 3.9.1 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the token parameter.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | paypal/merchant-sdk-php | ≥ 3.0.0&&< 3.12.0 | 3.12.0composer require paypal/merchant-sdk-php:^3.12.0 |
Affected Products
merchant-sdk-phppaypalResearch 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 paypal/merchant-sdk-php, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update paypal/merchant-sdk-php to 3.12.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2017-6099 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2017-6099 in your dependencies?
Find it across Packagist, including transitive dependencies.