CVE-2026-31859
Craft has Reflective XSS via incomplete return URL sanitization
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.
Blast Radius
craftcms/cms🐘craftcms/cmsReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Craft is a content management system (CMS). The fix for CVE-2025-35939 in craftcms/cms introduced a strip_tags() call in src/web/User.php to sanitize return URLs before they are stored in the session. However, strip_tags() only removes HTML tags (angle brackets) -- it does not inspect or filter URL schemes. Payloads like javascript:alert(document.cookie) contain no HTML tags and pass through strip_tags() completely unmodified, enabling reflected XSS when the return URL is rendered in an href attribute. This vulnerability is fixed in 5.9.7 and 4.17.3.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | craftcms/cms | ≥ 4.15.3&&< 4.17.3 | 4.17.3 |
| 🐘Packagist | craftcms/cms | ≥ 5.7.5&&< 5.9.7 | 5.9.7 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for craftcms/cms. 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 craftcms/cms to 4.17.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-31859 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-2026-31859 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-2026-31859. 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-2026-31859 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2026-31859 across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.