GHSA-xxhq-69mf-w8cr is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.4) Open Redirect vulnerability in gogs.io/gogs. A fix is available for gogs.io/gogs — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Gogs has an Open Redirect via redirect_to
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-xxhq-69mf-w8cr.
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-xxhq-69mf-w8cr 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 377,636 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
gogs.io/gogsReal-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
Summary
An open redirect vulnerability exists in Gogs where attacker-controlled redirect_to parameters can bypass validation, allowing redirection to arbitrary external sites.
Details
All redirects in Gogs that are validated via the IsSameSite function are vulnerable:
func IsSameSite(url string) bool {
return len(url) >= 2 && url[0] == '/' && url[1] != '/' && url[1] != '\\'
}
The function only inspects the first two characters of the URL string. This check fails to account for directory traversal sequences followed by backslashes. For example:
/a/../\example.com
The IsSameSite function checks the input supplied to the redirect_to query parameter value /a/../\example.com and considers it valid.
Because web browsers normalize backslashes \ to forward slashes /, the normalized URL becomes //example.com.
The normalized URL becomes:
//example.com
Resulting in a cross-origin redirect.
This affects all endpoints using the redirect_to query parameter, including login and other post-action flows.
PoC
- An attacker can provide a user with a link to login to Gogs with a
redirect_toquery parameter that redirects a user to a site the attacker wants them to visit:
http://192.168.236.132:3000/user/login?redirect_to=/a/../\example.com
- After the user successfully logs in, they would be redirected to the site an attacker wants them to visit:
Impact
- Phishing: Attackers can use trusted domain links to redirect victims to credential-harvesting pages
- OAuth/SSO Token Theft: In authentication flows, authorization codes or tokens may leak via redirect
- Referer Leakage: Sensitive URL parameters may be exposed to attacker domains via the Referer header
- Cache Poisoning: In deployments with shared caches, malicious redirects may be cached and served to other users
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | gogs.io/gogs | all versions | 0.14.3go get gogs.io/gogs@v0.14.3 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for gogs.io/gogs, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update gogs.io/gogs to 0.14.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-xxhq-69mf-w8cr 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-xxhq-69mf-w8cr can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-xxhq-69mf-w8cr. 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-xxhq-69mf-w8cr in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-xxhq-69mf-w8cr across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.