GHSA-q9w4-w667-qqj4 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.1) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in ckeditor-wordcount-plugin. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-q9w4-w667-qqj4 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
ckeditor-wordcount-plugin vulnerable to Cross-site Scripting in Source Mode of Editor
Real-World Exposure
ckeditor-wordcount-pluginReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects npm packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Problem
It has been discovered that the ckeditor-wordcount-plugin plugin for CKEditor4 is susceptible to cross-site scripting when switching to the source code mode.
Solution
Update to version 1.17.12 of the ckeditor-wordcount-plugin plugin.
Credits
- @sypets for reporting this finding to the TYPO3 Security Team
- @ohader for fixing the issue on behalf of the TYPO3 Security Team
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | ckeditor-wordcount-plugin | all versions | 1.17.12 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for ckeditor-wordcount-plugin. 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 ckeditor-wordcount-plugin to 1.17.12 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-q9w4-w667-qqj4 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-q9w4-w667-qqj4 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-q9w4-w667-qqj4. 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-q9w4-w667-qqj4 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-q9w4-w667-qqj4 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.