GHSA-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.
Trix has a cross-site Scripting vulnerability on copy & paste
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
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-qm2q-9f3q-2vcv 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 377,166 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.
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
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-qm2q-9f3q-2vcv can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-qm2q-9f3q-2vcv. 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-qm2q-9f3q-2vcv in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-qm2q-9f3q-2vcv across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.