CVE-2024-37166 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.9) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in ghtml. A fix is available for ghtml — see the affected versions and patch details below.
ghtml Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2024-37166.
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
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.
ghtmlnpmDescription
ghtml is software that uses tagged templates for template engine functionality. It is possible to introduce user-controlled JavaScript code and trigger a Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in some cases. Version 2.0.0 introduces changes to mitigate this issue. Version 2.0.0 contains updated documentation to clarify that while ghtml escapes characters with special meaning in HTML, it does not provide comprehensive protection against all types of XSS attacks in every scenario. This aligns with the approach taken by other template engines. Developers should be cautious and take additional measures to sanitize user input and prevent potential vulnerabilities. Additionally, the backtick character (`) is now also escaped to prevent the creation of strings in most cases where a malicious actor somehow gains the ability to write JavaScript. This does not provide comprehensive protection either.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | ghtml | all versions | 2.0.0npm install ghtml@2.0.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for ghtml, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update ghtml to 2.0.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-37166 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-2024-37166 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.