CVE-2024-45389
MEDIUMCVE-2024-45389 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.4) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in pagefind. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2024-45389 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Pagefind DOM clobbering could escalate to Cross-site Scripting (XSS)
Blast Radius
Weekly download volume for affected packages — a proxy for how broadly this vulnerability is deployed.
pagefindcrates.io@pagefind/default-uinpmDescription
Pagefind, a fully static search library, initializes its dynamic JavaScript and WebAssembly files relative to the location of the first script the user loads. This information is gathered by looking up the value of document.currentScript.src. Prior to Pagefind version 1.1.1, it is possible to "clobber" this lookup with otherwise benign HTML on the page. This will cause document.currentScript.src to resolve as an external domain, which will then be used by Pagefind to load dependencies. This exploit would only work in the case that an attacker could inject HTML to a live, hosted, website. In these cases, this would act as a way to escalate the privilege available to an attacker. This assumes they have the ability to add some elements to the page (for example, img tags with a name attribute), but not others, as adding a script to the page would itself be the cross-site scripting vector. Pagefind has tightened this resolution in version 1.1.1 by ensuring the source is loaded from a valid script element. There are no reports of this being exploited in the wild via Pagefind.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | pagefind | all versions | 1.1.1 |
| 📦npm | pagefind | all versions | 1.1.1 |
| 📦npm | @pagefind/default-ui | all versions | 1.1.1 |
| 📦npm | @pagefind/modular-ui | all versions | 1.1.1 |
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 pagefind. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update pagefind to 1.1.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-45389 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 pinpoints whether CVE-2024-45389 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2024-45389. 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-2024-45389 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2024-45389 across crates.io, npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.