GHSA-xc8p-9rr6-97r2
HIGHGHSA-xc8p-9rr6-97r2 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.3) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in open-webui. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-xc8p-9rr6-97r2 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Open WebUI vulnerable to Stored XSS via iFrame in citations model
Real-World Exposure
open-webuiReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Summary
Manually modifying chat history allows setting the html property within document metadata. This causes the frontend to enter a code path that treats document contents as HTML, and render them in an iFrame when the citation is previewed. This allows stored XSS via a weaponised document payload in a chat. The payload also executes when the citation is viewed on a shared chat.
Details
The vulnerability stems from how iFrame are implemented here:
https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui/blob/6f1486ffd0cb288d0e21f41845361924e0d742b3/src/lib/components/chat/Messages/Citations/CitationModal.svelte#L163-L170
The html attribute can be controlled by a user who manually edits the chat history. Since allow-scripts and allow-same-origin are harcoded here the sandboxing offers essentially no protection.
PoC
Create an arbitrary chat with a file upload attached:
<img width="2462" height="1148" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/fad83c74-036d-41b8-bc44-87bf2a538b21" />
Edit the response
<img width="768" height="206" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/41a7342a-cc41-433e-8820-0bc6ed08ddd7" />
<img width="2142" height="796" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/fb731111-e082-4172-80d1-34cff6b2a511" />
Before saving, configure the browser to use an HTTP proxy tool (Burp/Caido/ZAP) and intercept the save request. Find the object within the history and then messages objects (not the messages array) that contains the document source.
<img width="2122" height="1388" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1b4fbced-a6de-414d-b063-9cae44e3f449" />
Add html: true to metadata, update the document to an XSS payload, and forward the request.
<img width="2240" height="1358" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/fd27971b-f707-458f-a14d-254f9f3ad1fa" />
Observe the payload is rendered in the iFrame and the javascript executes.
<img width="2698" height="1696" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b4e31cb4-d4cc-41a9-be42-802e9b1a798d" />
The payload also executes when viewed from a shared version of the chat.
<img width="2742" height="1258" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/92ee501d-8f14-4c32-8f3c-f4d3ca304ee5" />
Impact
Any user can create a weaponised chat that can be shared and subsequently used to target other users.
Low privilege users are at risk of having their session taken over by a payload that reads their token from local storage and exfiltrates it to an attacker controlled server.
Admins are at risk of exposing the server to RCE via same chain described in https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-w7xj-8fx7-wfch.
Caveats
The victim must expand the sources and click the document containing the payload to trigger this issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | open-webui | all versions | 0.7.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for open-webui. 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 open-webui to 0.7.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-xc8p-9rr6-97r2 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-xc8p-9rr6-97r2 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-xc8p-9rr6-97r2. 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-xc8p-9rr6-97r2 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-xc8p-9rr6-97r2 across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.