GHSA-xgfm-fjx6-62mj
MEDIUMreadthedocs-sphinx-search vulnerable to cross-site scripting when including search results from malicious projects
Blast Radius
readthedocs-sphinx-searchReal-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
Impact
This vulnerability could have allowed an attacker to include arbitrary HTML content in search results by having a user search a malicious project. This was due to our search client not correctly escaping all user content from search results. You can find more information in the advisory published in our readthedocs.org repo.
Users of this extension should update to the 0.3.2 version, and trigger a new build.
This issue was discovered by a member of our team, and we have seen no signs that this vulnerability was exploited in the wild.
Patches
This issue has been patched in our 0.3.2 version.
References
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, email us at [email protected] (PGP)
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | readthedocs-sphinx-search | all versions | 0.3.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for readthedocs-sphinx-search. 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 readthedocs-sphinx-search to 0.3.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-xgfm-fjx6-62mj 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-xgfm-fjx6-62mj 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-xgfm-fjx6-62mj. 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-xgfm-fjx6-62mj in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-xgfm-fjx6-62mj across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.