GHSA-q4m3-2j7h-f7xw is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.1) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in org.webjars.npm:jquery. 2 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-q4m3-2j7h-f7xw is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Cross-Site Scripting in jquery
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-q4m3-2j7h-f7xw 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 371,256 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
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.
jquerynpmDescription
Versions of jquery prior to 1.9.0 are vulnerable to Cross-Site Scripting. The load method fails to recognize and remove <script> HTML tags that contain a whitespace character, i.e: </script >, which results in the enclosed script logic to be executed. This allows attackers to execute arbitrary JavaScript in a victim's browser.
Recommendation
Upgrade to version 1.9.0 or later.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.webjars.npm:jquery | ≥ 1.2.1&&< 1.9.0 | 1.9.0 |
| 📦npm | jquery | ≥ 1.2.1&&< 1.9.0 | 1.9.0 |
| .NETNuGet | jQuery | ≥ 1.2.1&&< 1.9.0 | 1.9.0 |
| 💎RubyGems | jquery-rails | all versions | 2.2.0 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
jQuery 3.3.1 - Prototype Pollution & XSS Exploit
by xOryus · Apr 8, 2025
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.webjars.npm:jquery. 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 org.webjars.npm:jquery to 1.9.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-q4m3-2j7h-f7xw 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-q4m3-2j7h-f7xw 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-q4m3-2j7h-f7xw. 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.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 6, 7 and 8 ship a vulnerable version of JQuery in the `pcs` component. However the vulnerable has not been found to be exploitable in reasonable scenarios. A future update may update JQuery to a fixed version.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-q4m3-2j7h-f7xw in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-q4m3-2j7h-f7xw across Maven, npm, NuGet dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.