CVE-2023-48219 Special characters in unescaped text nodes can trigger mXSS in TinyMCE
Attackers can execute arbitrary scripts via mutation XSS in TinyMCE's undo/redo functionality by exploiting unescaped text nodes.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2023-48219?
CVE-2023-48219 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in tinymce, published on 15 Nov 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
TinyMCE is an open source rich text editor. A mutation cross-site scripting (mXSS) vulnerability was discovered in TinyMCE’s core undo/redo functionality and other APIs and plugins. Text nodes within specific parents are not escaped upon serialization according to the HTML standard. If such text nodes contain a special character reserved as an internal marker, they can be combined with other HTML patterns to form malicious snippets. These snippets pass the initial sanitisation layer when the content is parsed into the editor body, but can trigger XSS when the special internal marker is removed from the content and re-parsed. his vulnerability has been patched in TinyMCE versions 6.7.3 and 5.10.9. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
Weakness: CWE-79
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-48219?
12 open source packages ship an affected version, including TinyMCE, tinymce/tinymce and tinymce. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
TinyMCE NuGet | All versions | 5.10.9 |
TinyMCE NuGet | All versions | 5.10.9 |
TinyMCE NuGet | From 6.0.0 | 6.7.3 |
TinyMCE NuGet | From 6.0.0 | 6.7.3 |
tinymce/tinymce Packagist | All versions | 5.10.9 |
tinymce/tinymce Packagist | All versions | 5.10.9 |
6 more packages
tinymce/tinymce Packagist | From 6.0.0 | 6.7.3 |
tinymce/tinymce Packagist | From 6.0.0 | 6.7.3 |
tinymce npm | All versions | 5.10.9 |
tinymce npm | All versions | 5.10.9 |
tinymce npm | From 6.0.0 | 6.7.3 |
tinymce npm | From 6.0.0 | 6.7.3 |
Products include Tiny Tinymce.
How do I fix CVE-2023-48219?
Upgrade TinyMCE to a fixed version for your release line: 5.10.9 or 6.7.3.
Escape output for the context it lands in and set a strict Content Security Policy. Upgrading the affected component is the real fix. More about Cross-site scripting.
Is CVE-2023-48219 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-48219 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in tinymce
- CVE-2026-47759 TinyMCE Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability using through data-mce- prefixed src, href, style attributes
- CVE-2026-47760 TinyMCE Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability using sanitization bypass through nested SVGs
- CVE-2026-47761 TinyMCE Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability using media plugin `data-mce-object` injection
- CVE-2026-47762 TinyMCE Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability through `mce:protected` comments
- CVE-2024-21908 Cross-site scripting vulnerability in TinyMCE
Sources
Also known as GHSA-v626-r774-j7f8, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-48219.