CVE-2023-45818
Publication date 19 October 2023
Last updated 26 August 2025
Ubuntu priority
Cvss 3 Severity Score
Description
TinyMCE is an open source rich text editor. A mutation cross-site scripting (mXSS) vulnerability was discovered in TinyMCE’s core undo and redo functionality. When a carefully-crafted HTML snippet passes the XSS sanitisation layer, it is manipulated as a string by internal trimming functions before being stored in the undo stack. If the HTML snippet is restored from the undo stack, the combination of the string manipulation and reparative parsing by either the browser's native [DOMParser API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMParser) (TinyMCE 6) or the SaxParser API (TinyMCE 5) mutates the HTML maliciously, allowing an XSS payload to be executed. This vulnerability has been patched in TinyMCE 5.10.8 and TinyMCE 6.7.1 by ensuring HTML is trimmed using node-level manipulation instead of string manipulation. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
Status
| Package | Ubuntu Release | Status |
|---|---|---|
| tinymce | 25.10 questing | Not in release |
| 24.04 LTS noble | Not in release | |
| 22.04 LTS jammy | Not in release | |
| 20.04 LTS focal |
Needs evaluation
|
|
| 18.04 LTS bionic |
Needs evaluation
|
|
| 16.04 LTS xenial |
Needs evaluation
|
|
| 14.04 LTS trusty | Ignored end of standard support |
Severity score breakdown
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base score |
|
| Attack vector | Network |
| Attack complexity | Low |
| Privileges required | None |
| User interaction | Required |
| Scope | Changed |
| Confidentiality | Low |
| Integrity impact | Low |
| Availability impact | None |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N |
References
Other references
- https://github.com/tinymce/tinymce/security/advisories/GHSA-v65r-p3vv-jjfv
- https://tiny.cloud/docs/release-notes/release-notes5108/#securityfixes
- https://researchgate.net/publication/266654651_mXSS_attacks_Attacking_well-secured_web-applications_by_using_innerHTML_mutations
- https://tiny.cloud/docs/tinymce/6/6.7.1-release-notes/#security-fixes
- https://www.tiny.cloud/docs/api/tinymce.html/tinymce.html.saxparser/
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-45818