GHSA-7j46-f57w-76pj is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in getformwork/formwork. A fix is available for getformwork/formwork — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Formwork CMS has Stored Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerebility in Blog Tags
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-7j46-f57w-76pj.
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-7j46-f57w-76pj 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 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
getformwork/formworkReal-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
Summary
Inserting unsanitized data into the blog tag field in Formwork CMS results in stored cross‑site scripting (XSS). Any user with credentials to the Formwork CMS who accesses or edits an affected blog post will have attacker‑controlled script executed in their browser. Because the issue is persistent and impacts privileged administrative workflows, the severity is elevated.
Details
Formwork CMS fails to properly sanitize data inserted into tags, before saving them and rendering them into the edit blog interface. When a specially crafted tag becomes saved as a tag into the system, it is unable to be removed. Any attempt to remove the tag from the affected post, causes the XSS to trigger once again.
Additionally, once the malicious tag is present, managing standard tags becomes impossible. This is due to script execution on attempted modification. This leads to a form of interface lockout where the payload continually reinserts itself due to the stored, unsafe rendering.
Impact
This is a stored cross‑site scripting (XSS) vulnerability.
This impacts all users who access the affected blog post’s edit page.
Patches
Formwork 2.2.0 ensures proper escaping of user input in tag fields.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | getformwork/formwork | all versions | 2.2.0composer require getformwork/formwork:^2.2.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for getformwork/formwork, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update getformwork/formwork to 2.2.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-7j46-f57w-76pj 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-7j46-f57w-76pj can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-7j46-f57w-76pj. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-7j46-f57w-76pj in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-7j46-f57w-76pj across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.