GHSA-xc3p-28hw-q24g is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.8) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in github.com/grafana/grafana. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for github.com/grafana/grafana — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Grafana proxy Cross-site Scripting
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.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-xc3p-28hw-q24g.
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-xc3p-28hw-q24g 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 377,238 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
github.com/grafana/grafana🐹github.com/grafana/grafanaReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Today we are releasing Grafana 8.3.5 and 7.5.15. This patch release includes MEDIUM severity security fix for XSS for Grafana.
Release v.8.3.5, only containing security fixes:
Release v.7.5.15, only containing security fixes:
XSS (CVE-2022-21702)
Summary
On Jan. 16, an external security researcher, Jasu Viding contacted Grafana to disclose an XSS vulnerability in the way that Grafana handles data sources.
An attacker could serve HTML content through the Grafana datasource or plugin proxy and trick a user to visit this HTML page using a specially crafted link and execute a Cross-site Scripting (XSS) attack. The attacker could either compromise an existing datasource for a specific Grafana instance or either set up its own public service and instruct anyone to set it up in their Grafana instance.
We believe that this vulnerability is rated at CVSS 6.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N).
Impact
Should an existing data source connected to Grafana be compromised, it could be used to inappropriately gain access to other data sources connected to the same Grafana org.
Affected versions with MEDIUM severity
To be impacted, all of the following must be applicable:
For data source proxy:
- A Grafana instance running version v2.0.0-beta1 up to v8.3.4.
- A Grafana HTTP-based datasource configured with Server as Access Mode and a URL set.
- Attacker to be in control of the HTTP server serving the URL of above data source.
- A specially crafted link pointing at http://host/api/datasources/proxy/"data source id" and attacker somehow tricks a user of the above Grafana instance to click/visit the link.
- A user that’s already authenticated to above Grafana instance clicks on/visits the specially crafted link sent/provided by the attacker.
For plugin proxy:
- A Grafana instance running version v2.0.0-beta1 up to v8.3.4.
- A Grafana HTTP-based app plugin configured and enabled with a URL set.
- Attacker to be in control of the HTTP server serving the URL of above app.
- A specially crafted link pointing at http://host/api/plugin-proxy/"plugin id" and attacker somehow tricks a user of the above Grafana instance to click/visit the link.
- A user that’s already authenticated to above Grafana instance clicks on/visits the specially crafted link sent/provided by the attacker.
Backend plugin resource:
- A Grafana instance running version v7.0.0-beta1 up to v8.3.4.
- Attacker potentially needs to craft a custom plugin to be able to pull this off, but if an attacker can compromise/control the backend service that a backend plugin connects to, it might be possible to serve HTML content via the /api/plugins/"plugin Id"/resources* or /api/datasources/"id"/resources* routes.
- A specially crafted link pointing at /api/plugins/"plugin Id">/resources* or /api/datasources/"id"/resources* and attacker somehow tricks a user of the above Grafana instance to click/visit the link.
- A user that’s already authenticated to above Grafana instance clicks on/visits the specially crafted link sent/provided by the attacker.
Root Causes
Trigger
Reproduced and confirmed via this Golang app:
package main
import (
"fmt"
"log"
"net/http"
)
func main() {
http.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
fmt.Fprintf(w, "<html><body><script>alert('XSS');</script></body></html>")
})
log.Fatal(http.ListenAndServe(":3011", nil))
}
A Prometheus datasource is configured in Grafana with URL http://localhost:3011.
When visitining http://localhost:3000/api/datasources/proxy/170 the scripts declared in the HTML page executes. Confirmed in both Chrome and Firefox.
Solutions and mitigations
All installations between Grafana v2.0.0-beta1 up to v8.3.4 should be upgraded as soon as possible.
Workarounds
Using a proxy, set a response header Content Security Policy: sandbox for the following routes:
/api/datasources/proxy*
/api/plugin-proxy*
/api/plugins/<pluginId>/resources*
/api/datasources/<id>/resources*
Another possible mitigation is setting the response header Content-Disposition: attachment; “proxy.txt”. Confirmed in both Chrome and Firefox.
Timeline and postmortem
Here is a detailed timeline starting from when we originally learned of the issue. All times in UTC.
- 2022-01-16 16:19 Issue submitted by Jasu Viding
- 2022-01-17 14:40 CVSS score confirmed 6.8 at maximum and MEDIUM impact
- 2022-01-17 15:15 Vulnerability confirmed reproducible
- 2022-01-17 16:01 Begin mitigation for Grafana Cloud
- 2022-01-18 15:12 Similar report received
- 2022-01-19 09:57 CVE requested
- 2022-01-19 13:21 PR with fix opened
- 2022-01-19 19:53 GitHub issues CVE-2022-21702
- 2022-01-20 12:43 Second similar report received
- 2022-01-21 14:30 Private release planned for 2022-01-25, and public release planned for 2022-02-01
- 2022-01-25 12:00 Private release with patches
- 2022-02-01 12:00 During the public release process, we realized that private 7.x release was incomplete. Abort public release, send second private release to customers using 7.x
- 2022-02-08 13:00 Public release
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank Jasu Viding for responsibly disclosing the vulnerability.
Reporting security issues
If you think you have found a security vulnerability, please send a report to [email protected]. This address can be used for all of Grafana Labs' open source and commercial products (including, but not limited to Grafana, Grafana Cloud, Grafana Enterprise, and grafana.com). We can accept only vulnerability reports at this address. We would prefer that you encrypt your message to us by using our PGP key. The key fingerprint is
F988 7BEA 027A 049F AE8E 5CAA D125 8932 BE24 C5CA
The key is available from keyserver.ubuntu.com.
Security announcements
We maintain a security category on our blog, where we will always post a summary, remediation, and mitigation details for any patch containing security fixes.
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Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/grafana/grafana | ≥ 2.0.0-beta1&&< 7.5.15 | 7.5.15go get github.com/grafana/grafana@v7.5.15 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/grafana/grafana | ≥ 8.0.0&&< 8.3.5 | 8.3.5go get github.com/grafana/grafana@v8.3.5 |
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 github.com/grafana/grafana, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/grafana/grafana to 7.5.15 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-xc3p-28hw-q24g 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-xc3p-28hw-q24g can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-xc3p-28hw-q24g. 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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | grafana-0:7.5.15-3.el8 | RHSA-2022:7519 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | grafana-0:7.5.15-3.el9 | RHSA-2022:8057 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-xc3p-28hw-q24g in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-xc3p-28hw-q24g across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.