GHSA-4h4p-553m-46qh is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in code.gitea.io/gitea. EPSS puts its 30-day exploitation probability at 33.0% (98th percentile). A fix is available for code.gitea.io/gitea — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Gitea Cross-site Scripting Vulnerability
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- 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 GHSA-4h4p-553m-46qh.
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
GHSA-4h4p-553m-46qh 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 377,166 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 10–50% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
code.gitea.io/giteaReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation (XSS or 'Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in Gitea Gitea Open Source Git Server allows Stored XSS.This issue affects Gitea Open Source Git Server: 1.22.0.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | code.gitea.io/gitea | all versions | 1.22.1go get code.gitea.io/gitea@v1.22.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for code.gitea.io/gitea, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update code.gitea.io/gitea to 1.22.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-4h4p-553m-46qh 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 GHSA-4h4p-553m-46qh can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-4h4p-553m-46qh. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
How to detect GHSA-4h4p-553m-46qh
A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:
nuclei -id ghsa-4h4p-553m-46qh -u https://target- Template
- Gitea 1.22.0 - Cross-Site Scripting
- Severity
- medium
- Impact
- Authenticated attackers can inject malicious JavaScript into repository descriptions that executes in the context of other users' sessions when they view the repository.
- Remediation
- Update Gitea to version 1.22.1 or later to address the stored XSS vulnerability.
Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (soonghee2), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-4h4p-553m-46qh in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-4h4p-553m-46qh across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.