# \[CVE-2023-23913\] DOM Based Cross-site Scripting in rails-ujs for contenteditable HTML Elements

**URL:** <https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/cve-2023-23913-dom-based-cross-site-scripting-in-rails-ujs-for-contenteditable-html-elements/82468>\
**Category:** Security Announcements\
**Tags:** announcement, patch, security\
**Created:** [March 13, 2023, 7:04pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/cve-2023-23913-dom-based-cross-site-scripting-in-rails-ujs-for-contenteditable-html-elements/82468 "2023-03-13T19:04:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jhawthorn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/user_avatar/discuss.rubyonrails.org/jhawthorn/32/590_2.png) [@jhawthorn](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/jhawthorn)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 7:04pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/cve-2023-23913-dom-based-cross-site-scripting-in-rails-ujs-for-contenteditable-html-elements/82468/1 "2023-03-13T19:04:46Z")

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There is a potential DOM based cross-site scripting issue in rails-ujs which leverages the Clipboard API to target HTML elements that are assigned the `contenteditable` attribute. This has the potential to occur when pasting malicious HTML content from the clipboard that includes a `data-method`, `data-remote` or `data-disable-with` attribute.

This vulnerability has been assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2023-23913.

Versions Affected: \>= 5.1.0 Not affected: \< 5.1.0 Fixed Versions: 6.1.7.3, 7.0.4.3

## Impact

If the specified malicious HTML clipboard content is provided to a `contenteditable` element, this could result in the arbitrary execution of javascript on the origin in question.

## Releases

The FIXED releases are available at the normal locations.

## Workarounds

We recommend that all users upgrade to one of the FIXED versions. In the meantime, users can attempt to mitigate this vulnerability by removing the `contenteditable` attribute from elements in pages that rails-ujs will interact with.

## Patches

To aid users who aren’t able to upgrade immediately we have provided patches for the two supported release series. They are in git-am format and consist of a single changeset.

- rails-ujs-data-method-contenteditable-6-1.patch - Patch for 6.1 series
- rails-ujs-data-method-contenteditable-7-0.patch - Patch for 7.0 series

Please note that only the 7.0.Z and 6.1.Z series are supported at present, and 6.0.Z for severe vulnerabilities. Users of earlier unsupported releases are advised to upgrade as soon as possible as we cannot guarantee the continued availability of security fixes for unsupported releases.

## Credits

We would like to thank [ryotak](https://hackerone.com/ryotak) for reporting this!

[rails-ujs-data-method-contenteditable-6-1.patch](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/uploads/short-url/tetkQ5uX26JI8pKftBOpSniIqDG.patch) (8.5 KB) [rails-ujs-data-method-contenteditable-7-0.patch](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/uploads/short-url/tetkQ5uX26JI8pKftBOpSniIqDG.patch) (8.5 KB) [rails-ujs-data-method-contenteditable-main.patch](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/uploads/short-url/67NSSR0MGx5hTPjZB22ewqu2cVL.patch) (8.9 KB)