GHSA-xmjj-3c76-5w84 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in directus. A fix is available for directus — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') in directus
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-xmjj-3c76-5w84.
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-xmjj-3c76-5w84 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 377,333 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.
directusnpmDescription
Impact
Unauthorized JavaScript can be executed by inserting an iframe into the rich text html interface that links to a file uploaded HTML file that loads another uploaded JS file in its script tag. This satisfies the regular content security policy header, which in turn allows the file to run any arbitrary JS.
Patches
This was resolved in https://github.com/directus/directus/pull/12020 which is released in 9.7.0
Workarounds
You can disable the live embed in the WYSIWYG by adding { "media_live_embeds": false } to the Options Overrides option of the Rich Text HTML interface.
References
https://github.com/directus/directus/pull/12020
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open an issue in directus/directus
- Email us at [email protected]
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | directus | all versions | 9.7.0npm install directus@9.7.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for directus, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update directus to 9.7.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-xmjj-3c76-5w84 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-xmjj-3c76-5w84 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-xmjj-3c76-5w84. 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-xmjj-3c76-5w84 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-xmjj-3c76-5w84 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.