GHSA-xp5h-f8jf-rc8q
MEDIUMGHSA-xp5h-f8jf-rc8q is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.3) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in actionview. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-xp5h-f8jf-rc8q is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
rails-ujs vulnerable to DOM Based Cross-site Scripting contenteditable HTML Elements
Blast Radius
actionview💎actionviewReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects RubyGems packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
NOTE: rails-ujs is part of Rails/actionview since 5.1.0.
There is a potential DOM based cross-site scripting issue in rails-ujs which leverages the Clipboard API to target HTML elements that are assigned the contenteditable attribute. This has the potential to occur when pasting malicious HTML content from the clipboard that includes a data-method, data-remote or data-disable-with attribute.
This vulnerability has been assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2023-23913.
Not affected: < 5.1.0 Versions Affected: >= 5.1.0 Fixed Versions: 6.1.7.3, 7.0.4.3
Impact If the specified malicious HTML clipboard content is provided to a contenteditable element, this could result in the arbitrary execution of javascript on the origin in question.
Releases The FIXED releases are available at the normal locations.
Workarounds We recommend that all users upgrade to one of the FIXED versions. In the meantime, users can attempt to mitigate this vulnerability by removing the contenteditable attribute from elements in pages that rails-ujs will interact with.
Patches To aid users who aren’t able to upgrade immediately we have provided patches for the two supported release series. They are in git-am format and consist of a single changeset.
- rails-ujs-data-method-contenteditable-6-1.patch - Patch for 6.1 series
- rails-ujs-data-method-contenteditable-7-0.patch - Patch for 7.0 series
Please note that only the 7.0.Z and 6.1.Z series are supported at present, and 6.0.Z for severe vulnerabilities.
Users of earlier unsupported releases are advised to upgrade as soon as possible as we cannot guarantee the continued availability of security fixes for unsupported releases.
Credits We would like to thank ryotak 15 for reporting this!
- rails-ujs-data-method-contenteditable-6-1.patch (8.5 KB)
- rails-ujs-data-method-contenteditable-7-0.patch (8.5 KB)
- rails-ujs-data-method-contenteditable-main.patch (8.9 KB)
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💎RubyGems | actionview | ≥ 5.1.0&&< 6.1.7.3 | 6.1.7.3 |
| 💎RubyGems | actionview | ≥ 7.0.0&&< 7.0.4.3 | 7.0.4.3 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for actionview. 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 actionview to 6.1.7.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-xp5h-f8jf-rc8q 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-xp5h-f8jf-rc8q 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-xp5h-f8jf-rc8q. 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-xp5h-f8jf-rc8q in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-xp5h-f8jf-rc8q across RubyGems dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.