GHSA-c33w-pm52-mqvf
MEDIUMGHSA-c33w-pm52-mqvf is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.4) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in @dependencytrack/frontend. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-c33w-pm52-mqvf is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
@dependencytrack/frontend vulnerable to Persistent Cross-Site-Scripting via Vulnerability Details
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, a proxy for how much of the ecosystem is exposed.
@dependencytrack/frontendnpmDescription
Description
Due to the common practice of providing vulnerability details in markdown format, the Dependency-Track frontend renders them using the JavaScript library Showdown. Showdown does not have any XSS countermeasures built in, and versions before 4.6.1 of the Dependency-Track frontend did not encode or sanitize Showdown's output. This made it possible for arbitrary JavaScript included in vulnerability details via HTML attributes to be executed in context of the frontend.
Impact
Actors with the VULNERABILITY_MANAGEMENT permission can exploit this weakness by creating or editing a custom vulnerability and providing XSS payloads in any of the following fields:
- Description
- Details
- Recommendation
- References
The payload will be executed for users with the VIEW_PORTFOLIO permission when browsing to the modified vulnerability's page, for example:
https://dtrack.example.com/vulnerabilities/INTERNAL/INT-jd8u-e8tl-8lwu
Alternatively, malicious JavaScript could be introduced via any of the vulnerability databases mirrored by Dependency-Track (NVD, GitHub Advisories, OSV, OSS Index, VulnDB). However, this attack vector is highly unlikely, and the team is not aware of any occurrence of this happening.
Note The Vulnerability Details element of the Audit Vulnerabilities tab in the project view is not affected.
Patches
The issue has been fixed in frontend version 4.6.1.
Credit
Thanks to GitHub user Waterstraal for finding and responsibly disclosing the issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | @dependencytrack/frontend | all versions | 4.6.1 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for @dependencytrack/frontend. 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 @dependencytrack/frontend to 4.6.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-c33w-pm52-mqvf 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-c33w-pm52-mqvf 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-c33w-pm52-mqvf. 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-c33w-pm52-mqvf in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-c33w-pm52-mqvf across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.