CVE-2025-11844 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.4) CWE-643 vulnerability in smolagents. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2025-11844 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
XPath Injection in Hugging Face Smolagents search_item_ctrl_f Function
Real-World Exposure
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Description
Hugging Face Smolagents version 1.20.0 contains an XPath injection vulnerability in the search_item_ctrl_f function located in src/smolagents/vision_web_browser.py. The function constructs an XPath query by directly concatenating user-supplied input into the XPath expression without proper sanitization or escaping. This allows an attacker to inject malicious XPath syntax that can alter the intended query logic. The vulnerability enables attackers to bypass search filters, access unintended DOM elements, and disrupt web automation workflows. This can lead to information disclosure, manipulation of AI agent interactions, and compromise the reliability of automated web tasks. The issue is fixed in version 1.22.0.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | smolagents | all versions | 1.22.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for smolagents. 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 smolagents to 1.22.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-11844 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-2025-11844 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-2025-11844. 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-2025-11844 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2025-11844 across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.