GHSA-g82g-m9vx-vhjg is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.4) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in kimai/kimai. A fix is available for kimai/kimai — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Kimai has Stored XSS via Incomplete HTML Attribute Escaping in Team Member Widget
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-g82g-m9vx-vhjg.
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-g82g-m9vx-vhjg 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 377,636 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
kimai/kimaiReal-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
The client-side escapeForHtml() function in KimaiEscape.js, introduced in commit 89bfa82c (#2959) to fix a JavaScript XSS vulnerability, only escapes <, >, and & but does not escape " (double quote) or ' (single quote). When user-controlled data (profile alias) is placed in an HTML attribute context (title="__DISPLAY__") via the team member form prototype and rendered through innerHTML, the missing quote escaping allows HTML attribute injection, resulting in Stored XSS.
Details
Incomplete security patch. The escapeForHtml() function was meant to prevent XSS but missed quote characters, which are critical for HTML attribute context escaping.
Vulnerable code — assets/js/plugins/KimaiEscape.js:29-33:
const tagsToReplace = {
'&': '&',
'<': '<',
'>': '>',
// MISSING: '"': '"'
// MISSING: "'": '''
};
Affected code files:
assets/js/plugins/KimaiEscape.js:24-38— incomplete escape functionassets/js/forms/KimaiTeamForm.js:77,86— replacement + innerHTMLtemplates/macros/widgets.html.twig:126—title="{{ tooltip }}"in avatar macrotemplates/form/blocks.html.twig:104—{{ widgets.avatar('__INITIALS__', '__COLOR__', '__DISPLAY__') }}
PoC
Please extract the uploaded compressed file before proceeding
- ./setup.sh
- ./poc_xss.sh
Impact
- Stored XSS: payload persists in the database (user alias field)
- Privilege escalation: ROLE_USER injects XSS that executes in ROLE_ADMIN/ROLE_SUPER_ADMIN browser session
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | kimai/kimai | all versions | 2.53.0composer require kimai/kimai:^2.53.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for kimai/kimai, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update kimai/kimai to 2.53.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-g82g-m9vx-vhjg 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-g82g-m9vx-vhjg can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-g82g-m9vx-vhjg. 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-g82g-m9vx-vhjg in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-g82g-m9vx-vhjg across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.