CVE-2022-36033 — jsoup
MEDIUMCVE-2022-36033 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.1) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in org.jsoup:jsoup. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for org.jsoup:jsoup — see the affected versions and patch details below.
jsoup may not sanitize Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attempts if SafeList.preserveRelativeLinks is enabled
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-36033.
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-2022-36033 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 377,238 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
org.jsoup:jsoupReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
jsoup is a Java HTML parser, built for HTML editing, cleaning, scraping, and cross-site scripting (XSS) safety. jsoup may incorrectly sanitize HTML including javascript: URL expressions, which could allow XSS attacks when a reader subsequently clicks that link. If the non-default SafeList.preserveRelativeLinks option is enabled, HTML including javascript: URLs that have been crafted with control characters will not be sanitized. If the site that this HTML is published on does not set a Content Security Policy, an XSS attack is then possible. This issue is patched in jsoup 1.15.3. Users should upgrade to this version. Additionally, as the unsanitized input may have been persisted, old content should be cleaned again using the updated version. To remediate this issue without immediately upgrading: - disable SafeList.preserveRelativeLinks, which will rewrite input URLs as absolute URLs - ensure an appropriate Content Security Policy is defined. (This should be used regardless of upgrading, as a defence-in-depth best practice.)
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.jsoup:jsoup | all versions | 1.15.3org.jsoup:jsoup:1.15.3 |
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.jsoup:jsoup, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.jsoup:jsoup to 1.15.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-36033 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-2022-36033 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-36033. 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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Migration Toolkit for Runtimes 1 on RHEL 8 | mtr/mtr-operator-bundle:1.2-27 | RHSA-2024:6656 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7 | jsoup | RHSA-2024:8080 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.4 for RHEL 8 | eap7-hal-console-0:3.3.24-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.el8eap | RHSA-2024:8076 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.4 for RHEL 9 | eap7-hal-console-0:3.3.24-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.el9eap | RHSA-2024:8077 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.4 on RHEL 7 | eap7-hal-console-0:3.3.24-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.el7eap | RHSA-2024:8075 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-36033 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-36033 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.