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CVE Record

CVE-2022-23515: Improper neutralization of data URIs may allow XSS in Loofah

Loofah is a general library for manipulating and transforming HTML/XML documents and fragments, built on top of Nokogiri. Loofah >= 2.1.0, < 2.19.1 is vulnerable to cross-site scripting via the image/svg+xml media type in data URIs. This issue is patched in version 2.19.1.

MediumCVSS 6.1Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

Loofah can fail to neutralize certain SVG data URIs during HTML sanitization, allowing cross-site scripting when unsafe sanitized content is later shown in a browser. The business risk is account/session abuse or user-directed fraud in affected applications, but the sources rate severity as medium and require user interaction.

Executive priority

Prioritize remediation for internet-facing applications that accept or display user-generated HTML. This is not a critical infrastructure flaw based on the provided severity and KEV status, but XSS can still enable meaningful business impact where authenticated users or administrators view attacker-controlled content.

Technical view

CVE-2022-23515 affects Loofah >= 2.1.0 and < 2.19.1. The flaw is CWE-79 XSS involving image/svg+xml media type handling in data URIs. CVSS 3.1 is 6.1: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges, user interaction required, changed scope, low confidentiality and integrity impact.

Likely exposure

Ruby applications or services using Loofah versions >= 2.1.0 and < 2.19.1 are in scope. Exposure is most relevant where Loofah sanitizes user-controlled HTML/XML fragments that are later rendered in browsers, especially if data URIs are allowed or preserved.

Exploitation context

The source bundle lists KEV as false and does not provide evidence of active exploitation. The public issue and HackerOne report indicate the vulnerability was reported and fixed, but the provided data does not support claiming known in-the-wild exploitation.

Researcher notes

Keep analysis bounded to Loofah and its downstream packaging. Do not infer affected Rails applications unless dependency evidence exists. The key validation question is whether vulnerable Loofah versions process untrusted HTML that reaches browser-rendered output.

Mitigation direction

  • Upgrade Loofah to version 2.19.1 or later.
  • Update dependent packages that bundle or constrain Loofah.
  • Apply Debian LTS package updates where Loofah is supplied by Debian.
  • Review vendor guidance before relying on configuration-only mitigations.
  • Retest HTML sanitization paths after updating dependencies.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory application dependencies for Loofah versions >= 2.1.0 and < 2.19.1.
  • Check lockfiles and deployed package manifests, not only source manifests.
  • Identify routes that render sanitized user-supplied HTML in browsers.
  • Confirm dependency resolution actually uses Loofah 2.19.1 or later.
  • Review regression tests for data URI and SVG sanitization behavior.
Prepared
Confidence
high
Sources
7

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.

ATT&CK lookup starting points

Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.

cwe · medium confidence lookup

CWE-79: User-session and phishing behavior lookup

Client-side and session-facing weaknesses should be reviewed alongside initial-access and user-execution behaviors. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.

Open ATT&CK lookup
cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2022-23515 mapping review

Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.

Open ATT&CK lookup
Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Medium
CVSS
6.1 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

1CVSS vectors
0Timeline events
0ADP providers
6Source links

CVSS vector scores

1 official score

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
6.1CVSS 3.1MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N2.82.7Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

6.1Medium
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2022-23515Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
flavorjonesloofah>= 2.1.0, < 2.19.1Listed
Weakness

CWE details

CWE-79

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.