CVE-2023-39517 HIGH

CVE-2023-39517: Cross site scripting (XSS) when clicking on an untrusted `<map>` link in Joplin

Vendor Laurent22
Product joplin
Weakness CWE-79 · XSS
Published June 21, 2024
Last update August 2, 2024

CVSS base score

8.2/10
Attack vector Network
Attack complexity Low
Privileges required Low
User interaction Required
Confidentiality High
Integrity Low

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:L

What the vulnerability does

01Description

Joplin is a free, open source note taking and to-do application. A Cross site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in affected versions allows clicking on an untrusted image link to execute arbitrary shell commands. The HTML sanitizer (`packages/renderer/htmlUtils.ts::sanitizeHtml`) preserves `<map>` `<area>` links. However, unlike `<a>` links, the `target` and `href` attributes are not removed. Additionally, because the note preview pane isn't sandboxed to prevent top navigation, links with `target` set to `_top` can replace the toplevel electron page. Because any toplevel electron page, with Joplin's setup, has access to `require` and can require node libraries, a malicious replacement toplevel page can import `child_process` and execute arbitrary shell commands. This issue has been fixed in commit 7c52c3e9a81a52ef1b42a951f9deb9d378d59b0f which is included in release version 2.12.8. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

June 21, 2024 CVE published
August 2, 2024 Record updated