GHSA-8j65-4pcq-xq95
HIGHGHSA-8j65-4pcq-xq95 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.6) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in highcharts. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-8j65-4pcq-xq95 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Options structure open to Cross-site Scripting if passed unfiltered
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
highchartsnpmDescription
Impact
In Highcharts versions 8 and earlier, the chart options structure was not systematically filtered for XSS vectors. The potential impact was that content from untrusted sources could execute code in the end user's browser. Especially when using the useHTML flag, HTML string options would be inserted unfiltered directly into the DOM. When useHTML was false, malicious code could be inserted by using various character replacement tricks or malformed HTML.
If your chart configuration comes from a trusted source like a static setup or pre-filtered HTML (or no markup at all in the configuration), you are not impacted.
Patches
In version 9, the whole rendering layer was refactored to use an DOMParser, an AST and tag and HTML allow-listing to make sure only safe content entered the DOM. In addition, prototype pollution was stopped.
Workarounds
Implementers who are not able to upgrade may apply DOMPurify recursively to the options structure to filter out malicious markup.
References
- Details on the improved Highcharts security
- The AST and TextBuilder refactoring
- The fix for prototype pollution
For more information
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Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | highcharts | all versions | 9.0.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for highcharts. 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 highcharts to 9.0.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-8j65-4pcq-xq95 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 GHSA-8j65-4pcq-xq95 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 GHSA-8j65-4pcq-xq95. 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-8j65-4pcq-xq95 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-8j65-4pcq-xq95 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.