# CVE-2018-16861: Cross-site scripting in foreman

> An attacker with specific menu privileges can execute XSS attacks to run malicious code and steal anti-CSRF tokens from higher-privileged users.

- **Severity:** High 7.6 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 7 Dec 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-w3p6-8cgj-c9xc

## What is CVE-2018-16861?

CVE-2018-16861 is a high-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Theforeman Foreman, published on 7 Dec 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

A cross-site scripting (XSS) flaw was found in the foreman component of satellite. An attacker with privilege to create entries using the Hosts, Monitor, Infrastructure, or Administer Menus is able to execute a XSS attacks against other users, possibly leading to malicious code execution and extraction of the anti-CSRF token of higher privileged users. Foreman before 1.18.3, 1.19.1, and 1.20.0 are vulnerable.

Weakness: CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-16861?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Theforeman Foreman.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-16861?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2018-16861 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-16861 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Theforeman Foreman

- [CVE-2018-14643](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-14643/): smart_proxy_dynflow gem authentication bypass in Foreman remote execution feature (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-7505](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-7505/): Missing authorization in foreman (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2016-4475](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-4475/): Missing authorization in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2016-3728](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-3728/): Code injection in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2015-5246](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5246/): Auth bypass in n/a (high 8.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-16861 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-16861 is a high-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Theforeman Foreman, published on 7 Dec 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-16861 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Theforeman Foreman. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-16861/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-16861/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-16861
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-16861
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-16861

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-16861/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.