GHSA-pg8v-g4xq-hww9 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.1) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in rails-html-sanitizer. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for rails-html-sanitizer — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Rails::Html::Sanitizer vulnerable to Cross-site Scripting
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-pg8v-g4xq-hww9 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 10–50% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
rails-html-sanitizerReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects RubyGems packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Possible XSS Vulnerability in Rails::Html::SanitizerThere is a possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::Html::Sanitizer.This vulnerability has been assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2022-32209.Versions Affected: ALLNot affected: NONEFixed Versions: v1.4.3## ImpactA possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::Html::Sanitizer may allow an attacker to inject content if the application developer has overridden the sanitizer's allowed tags to allow both select and style elements.Code is only impacted if allowed tags are being overridden. This may be done via application configuration:ruby# In config/application.rbconfig.action_view.sanitized_allowed_tags = ["select", "style"]see https://guides.rubyonrails.org/configuring.html#configuring-action-viewOr it may be done with a :tags option to the Action View helper sanitize:<%= sanitize @comment.body, tags: ["select", "style"] %>see https://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionView/Helpers/SanitizeHelper.html#method-i-sanitizeOr it may be done with Rails::Html::SafeListSanitizer directly:ruby# class-level optionRails::Html::SafeListSanitizer.allowed_tags = ["select", "style"]orruby# instance-level optionRails::Html::SafeListSanitizer.new.sanitize(@article.body, tags: ["select", "style"])All users overriding the allowed tags by any of the above mechanisms to include both "select" and "style" should either upgrade or use one of the workarounds immediately.## ReleasesThe FIXED releases are available at the normal locations.## WorkaroundsRemove either select or style from the overridden allowed tags.## CreditsThis vulnerability was responsibly reported by windshock.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💎RubyGems | rails-html-sanitizer | all versions | 1.4.3bundle update rails-html-sanitizer --conservative |
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 rails-html-sanitizer, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update rails-html-sanitizer to 1.4.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-pg8v-g4xq-hww9 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-pg8v-g4xq-hww9 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-pg8v-g4xq-hww9. 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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Satellite 6.12 for RHEL 8 | rubygem-rails-html-sanitizer-0:1.4.3-2.el8sat | RHSA-2022:8506 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-pg8v-g4xq-hww9 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-pg8v-g4xq-hww9 across RubyGems dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.