Trix has a cross-site Scripting vulnerability on copy & pasteGHSA-qm2q-9f3q-2vcv
MEDIUMFix: basecamp/trix#1149GHSA-qm2q-9f3q-2vcv is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in trix. A fix is available for trix — see the affected versions and patch details below.
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.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-qm2q-9f3q-2vcv.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
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.
trixnpmDescription
The Trix editor, versions prior to 2.1.4, is vulnerable to XSS when pasting malicious code. This vulnerability is a bypass of the fix put in place for https://github.com/basecamp/trix/security/advisories/GHSA-qjqp-xr96-cj99. In https://github.com/basecamp/trix/pull/1149, we added sanitation for Trix attachments with a text/html content type. However, Trix only checks the content type on the paste event's dataTransfer object. As long as the dataTransfer has a content type of text/html, Trix parses its contents and creates an Attachment with them, even if the attachment itself doesn't have a text/html content type. Trix then uses the attachment content to set the attachment element's innerHTML.
Impact
An attacker could trick a user to copy and paste malicious code that would execute arbitrary JavaScript code within the context of the user's session, potentially leading to unauthorized actions being performed or sensitive information being disclosed.
Patches
Update Recommendation: Users should upgrade to Trix editor version 2.1.4 or later, which incorporates proper sanitization of input from copied content.
Workarounds
This is not really a workaround but something that should be considered in addition to upgrading to the patched version. If affected users can disallow browsers that don't support a Content Security Policy, then this would be an effective workaround for this and all XSS vulnerabilities. Set CSP policies such as script-src 'self' to ensure that only scripts hosted on the same origin are executed, and explicitly prohibit inline scripts using script-src-elem.
References
- https://github.com/basecamp/trix/pull/1156
- https://github.com/basecamp/trix/releases/tag/v2.1.4
- https://github.com/basecamp/trix/pull/1149
- https://github.com/basecamp/trix/security/advisories/GHSA-qjqp-xr96-cj99
- MDN docs for
DataTransfer
Credits
This vulnerability was reported by HackerOne researcher thwin_htet.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | trix | all versions | 2.1.4npm install trix@2.1.4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for trix, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update trix to 2.1.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-qm2q-9f3q-2vcv is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-qm2q-9f3q-2vcv in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.