6.1

CVE-2023-28439: ckeditor Cross-site Scripting

CVSS: 6.1v3.1MediumModified
AliasesUBUNTU-CVE-2023-28439DEBIAN-CVE-2023-28439
Published 22-03-2023Last modified 13-02-2025
Open JSON

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2023-28439 is a medium (CVSS 6.1) Cross-site Scripting vulnerability in ckeditor. EPSS estimates a 0.73% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 53.2% of scored vulnerabilities.

Overall risk
25/100
0100
Medium · default modelHow is this calculated?
CVSS score
6.1/10
010
Medium · v3.1 (NVD)
EPSS score
0.73%
0%100%
Low · 0.00 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedIn no KEV catalog
RansomwareNone recordedNo known use recorded
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Advisory lineage

Upstream 0 · Downstream 1
USN-7258-1

Timeline

  1. 22-03-2023
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 13-02-2025
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

CKEditor4 is an open source what-you-see-is-what-you-get HTML editor. A cross-site scripting vulnerability has been discovered affecting Iframe Dialog and Media Embed packages. The vulnerability may trigger a JavaScript code after fulfilling special conditions: using one of the affected packages on a web page with missing proper Content Security Policy configuration; initializing the editor on an element and using an element other than `<textarea>` as a base; and destroying the editor instance. This vulnerability might affect a small percentage of integrators that depend on dynamic editor initialization/destroy mechanism. A fix is available in CKEditor4 version 4.21.0. In some rare cases, a security fix may be considered a breaking change. Starting from version 4.21.0, the Iframe Dialog plugin applies the `sandbox` attribute by default, which restricts JavaScript code execution in the iframe element. To change this behavior, configure the `config.iframe_attributes` option. Also starting from version 4.21.0, the Media Embed plugin regenerates the entire content of the embed widget by default. To change this behavior, configure the `config.embed_keepOriginalContent` option. Those who choose to enable either of the more permissive options or who cannot upgrade to a patched version should properly configure Content Security Policy to avoid any potential security issues that may arise from embedding iframe elements on their web page.

CVSS metrics

4 scores · 4 sources · 1 version

EPSS trend

Probability

0.73%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

53%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

0.00 pp

From 0.73% on 19-09-2026

19-09-202619-10-2026
EPSS score
0.73%

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs

Not in any of the 3 tracked catalogs.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Ubuntu4 products
  • ckeditorAll versions (No fix recorded)
  • ckeditor3All versions (No fix recorded)
  • ldap-account-managerAll versions (No fix recorded)
  • request-tracker4All versions (No fix recorded)
Ckeditor2 products
Debian2 products
  • ckeditorAll versions (No fix recorded)
  • ckeditor3All versions (No fix recorded)
Fedoraproject1 product

4 vendors · 9 products

References

9 links