GHSA-r4f8-f93x-5qh3
HIGHTYPO3 is vulnerable to Cross-Site Scripting via frontend rendering
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.
Blast Radius
typo3/cms-core🐘typo3/cms-core🐘typo3/cms-core🐘typo3/cms-core🐘typo3/cms-core🐘typo3/cms🐘typo3/cms🐘typo3/cmsReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
CVSS:
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:L/E:F/RL:O/RC:C(8.2)
Problem
TYPO3 core component GeneralUtility::getIndpEnv() uses the unfiltered server environment variable PATH_INFO, which allows attackers to inject malicious content.
In combination with the TypoScript setting config.absRefPrefix=auto, attackers can inject malicious HTML code into pages that have not yet been rendered and cached. As a result, injected values would be cached and delivered to other website visitors (persisted cross-site scripting).
Individual code which relies on the resolved value of GeneralUtility::getIndpEnv('SCRIPT_NAME') and corresponding usages (as shown below) are vulnerable as well.
GeneralUtility::getIndpEnv('PATH_INFO')GeneralUtility::getIndpEnv('SCRIPT_NAME')GeneralUtility::getIndpEnv('TYPO3_REQUEST_DIR')GeneralUtility::getIndpEnv('TYPO3_REQUEST_SCRIPT')GeneralUtility::getIndpEnv('TYPO3_SITE_PATH')GeneralUtility::getIndpEnv('TYPO3_SITE_SCRIPT')GeneralUtility::getIndpEnv('TYPO3_SITE_URL')
Installations of TYPO3 versions 8.7 and 9.x are probably only affected when server environment variable TYPO3_PATH_ROOT is defined - which is the case if they were installed via Composer.
Additional investigations confirmed that Apache and Microsoft IIS web servers using PHP-CGI (FPM, FCGI/FastCGI, or similar) are affected. There might be the risk that nginx is vulnerable as well. It was not possible to exploit Apache/mod_php scenarios.
Solution
The usage of server environment variable PATH_INFO has been removed from corresponding processings in GeneralUtility::getIndpEnv(). Besides that, the public property TypoScriptFrontendController::$absRefPrefix is encoded for both being used as a URI component and for being used as a prefix in an HTML context. This mitigates the cross-site scripting vulnerability.
Update to TYPO3 versions 8.7.51 ELTS, 9.5.40 ELTS, 10.4.36 LTS, 11.5.23 LTS and 12.2.0 that fix the problem described above.
ℹ️ Strong security defaults - Manual actions required Any web server using PHP-CGI (FPM, FCGI/FastCGI, or similar) needs to ensure that the PHP setting
cgi.fix_pathinfo=1is used, which is the default PHP setting. In case this setting is not enabled, an exception is thrown to avoid continuing with invalid path information.
For websites that cannot be patched timely the TypoScript setting config.absRefPrefix at least should be set to a static path value, instead of using auto - e.g. config.absRefPrefix=/ - this does not fix all aspects of the vulnerability, and is just considered to be an intermediate mitigation to the most prominent manifestation.
References
- TYPO3-CORE-SA-2023-001
- TYPO3-CORE-PSA-2023-001 pre-announcement
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | typo3/cms-core | ≥ 12.0.0&&< 12.2.0 | 12.2.0 |
| 🐘Packagist | typo3/cms-core | ≥ 11.0.0&&< 11.5.23 | 11.5.23 |
| 🐘Packagist | typo3/cms-core | ≥ 10.0.0&&< 10.4.36 | 10.4.36 |
| 🐘Packagist | typo3/cms-core | ≥ 9.0.0&&< 9.5.40 | 9.5.40 |
| 🐘Packagist | typo3/cms-core | ≥ 8.7.0&&< 8.7.51 | 8.7.51 |
| 🐘Packagist | typo3/cms | ≥ 10.0.0&&< 10.4.35 | 10.4.35 |
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 typo3/cms-core. 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 typo3/cms-core to 12.2.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-r4f8-f93x-5qh3 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-r4f8-f93x-5qh3 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-r4f8-f93x-5qh3. 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-r4f8-f93x-5qh3 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-r4f8-f93x-5qh3 across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.