GHSA-cf72-vg59-4j4h is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.4) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in khoj. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for khoj — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Khoj Vulnerable to Stored Cross-site Scripting In Automate (Preview feature)
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- 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-cf72-vg59-4j4h.
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-cf72-vg59-4j4h 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% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
khojReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Summary
The Automation feature allows a user to insert arbitrary HTML inside the task instructions, resulting in a Stored XSS.
Details
The q parameter for the /api/automation endpoint does not get correctly sanitized when rendered on the page, resulting in the ability of users to inject arbitrary HTML/JS.
PoC
POST /api/automation?q=%22%3E%3C%2Ftextarea%3E%3Cimg%20src%3Dx%20onerror%3Dalert(document.cookie)%3E%3Cscript%3Ealert(2)%3C%2Fscript%3E
Impact
Stored XSS:
Fix
- Added a Content Security Policy to all config pages on the web client, including the automation page
- Used DOM scripting to construct all components on the config pages, including the automation page
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | khoj | all versions | 1.15.0pip install --upgrade 'khoj==1.15.0' |
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 khoj, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update khoj to 1.15.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-cf72-vg59-4j4h 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-cf72-vg59-4j4h can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-cf72-vg59-4j4h. 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-cf72-vg59-4j4h in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-cf72-vg59-4j4h across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.