# CVE-2019-3923: Cross-site scripting in Tenable Nessus

> An authenticated attacker can inject malicious scripts into Nessus, leading to arbitrary code execution in victim browsers.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.4 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **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:** No
- **Published:** 12 Feb 2019
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-x9wg-fm6f-f8w7

## What is CVE-2019-3923?

CVE-2019-3923 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Tenable Nessus, published on 12 Feb 2019. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Nessus versions 8.2.1 and earlier were found to contain a stored XSS vulnerability due to improper validation of user-supplied input. An authenticated, remote attacker could potentially exploit this vulnerability via a specially crafted request to execute arbitrary script code in a user's browser session. Tenable has released Nessus 8.2.2 to address this issue.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-3923?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Tenable Nessus.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-3923?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-3923 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-3923 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-3923 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Tenable Nessus

- [CVE-2022-4313](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-4313/): Command injection in Tenable.io, Tenable.sc and Nessus (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-0524](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0524/): Privilege escalation in Tenable.io, Tenable.sc, Nessus (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-0101](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0101/): Privilege escalation in Nessus (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2022-32973](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-32973/): Privilege escalation in Nessus (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2025-36630](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-36630/): Local Privilege Escalation (high 8.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-3923 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-3923 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Tenable Nessus, published on 12 Feb 2019. 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-2019-3923 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Tenable Nessus. 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-2019-3923/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3923/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-3923
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-3923
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-3923

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3923/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.