GHSA-5mh9-r3rr-9597 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.1) CWE-665 vulnerability in net.sourceforge.htmlunit:htmlunit. A fix is available for net.sourceforge.htmlunit:htmlunit — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Code execution vulnerability in HtmlUnit
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 GHSA-5mh9-r3rr-9597.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-5mh9-r3rr-9597 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 379,842 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
net.sourceforge.htmlunit:htmlunitReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
HtmlUnit prior to 2.37.0 contains code execution vulnerabilities. HtmlUnit initializes Rhino engine improperly, hence a malicious JavScript code can execute arbitrary Java code on the application. Moreover, when embedded in Android application, Android-specific initialization of Rhino engine is done in an improper way, hence a malicious JavaScript code can execute arbitrary Java code on the application.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | net.sourceforge.htmlunit:htmlunit | all versions | 2.37.0net.sourceforge.htmlunit:htmlunit:2.37.0 |
Affected Products
camelapacheubuntu linuxcanonicaldebian linuxdebianhtmlunithtmlunitDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for net.sourceforge.htmlunit:htmlunit, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update net.sourceforge.htmlunit:htmlunit to 2.37.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-5mh9-r3rr-9597 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-5mh9-r3rr-9597 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.