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CVE-2020-17480

Cross-site scripting vulnerability in TinyMCE

6.1 MediumFix available

TinyMCE before 4.9.7 and 5.x before 5.1.4 allows XSS in the core parser, the paste plugin, and the visualchars plugin by using the clipboard or APIs to insert content into the editor.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges needed
None
User interaction
Required

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

Exploit likelihood

1.25%Up 0.6 points since Apr 14, 2021
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

NVD Score used 6.1

TinyMCE before 4.9.7 and 5.x before 5.1.4 allows XSS in the core parser, the paste plugin, and the visualchars plugin by using the clipboard or APIs to insert content into the editor.

Record
CVE-2020-17480
CVSS 3.1
6.1 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
CVSS 2.0
4.3 MediumAV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N
Weakness
CWE-79
Updated
2026-11-02
CVE List No score

TinyMCE before 4.9.7 and 5.x before 5.1.4 allows XSS in the core parser, the paste plugin, and the visualchars plugin by using the clipboard or APIs to insert content into the editor.

Record
CVE-2020-17480
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2020-0245 No score

TinyMCE before 4.9.7 and 5.x before 5.1.4 allows XSS in the core parser, the paste plugin, and the visualchars plugin by using the clipboard or APIs to insert content into the editor.

Record
EUVD-2020-0245
Updated
2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-27gm-ghr9-4v95 No score

Cross-site scripting vulnerability in TinyMCE

Impact

A cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability was discovered in: the core parser, paste and visualchars plugins. The vulnerability allowed arbitrary JavaScript execution when inserting a specially crafted piece of content into the editor via the clipboard or APIs. This impacts all users who are using TinyMCE 4.9.6 or lower and TinyMCE 5.1.3 or lower.

Patches

This vulnerability has been patched in TinyMCE 4.9.7 and 5.1.4 by improved parser logic and HTML sanitization.

Workarounds

The workarounds available are:

  • disable the impacted plugins
  • manually sanitize the content using the BeforeSetContent event (see below)
  • upgrade to either TinyMCE 4.9.7 or TinyMCE 5.1.4

Example: Manually sanitize content

editor.on('BeforeSetContent', function(e) {
  var sanitizedContent = ...; // Manually sanitize content here
  e.content = sanitizedContent;
});

Acknowledgements

Tiny Technologies would like to thank Michał Bentkowski for discovering this vulnerability.

References

https://www.tiny.cloud/docs/release-notes/release-notes514/#securityfixes

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Record
GHSA-27gm-ghr9-4v95
Weakness
CWE-79
Updated
2026-11-02
OSV 6.1

TinyMCE before 4.9.7 and 5.x before 5.1.4 allows XSS in the core parser, the paste plugin, and the visualchars plugin by using the clipboard or APIs to insert content into the editor.

Record
CVE-2020-17480
CVSS 3.1
6.1 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2020-17480 6.1

TinyMCE before 4.9.7 and 5.x before 5.1.4 allows XSS in the core parser, the paste plugin, and the visualchars plugin by using the clipboard or APIs to insert content into the editor.

Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2020-17480
CVSS 3.1
6.1 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-27gm-ghr9-4v95 No score

Cross-site scripting vulnerability in TinyMCE

Impact

A cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability was discovered in: the core parser, paste and visualchars plugins. The vulnerability allowed arbitrary JavaScript execution when inserting a specially crafted piece of content into the editor via the clipboard or APIs. This impacts all users who are using TinyMCE 4.9.6 or lower and TinyMCE 5.1.3 or lower.

Patches

This vulnerability has been patched in TinyMCE 4.9.7 and 5.1.4 by improved parser logic and HTML sanitization.

Workarounds

The workarounds available are:

  • disable the impacted plugins
  • manually sanitize the content using the BeforeSetContent event (see below)
  • upgrade to either TinyMCE 4.9.7 or TinyMCE 5.1.4

Example: Manually sanitize content

editor.on('BeforeSetContent', function(e) {
  var sanitizedContent = ...; // Manually sanitize content here
  e.content = sanitizedContent;
});

Acknowledgements

Tiny Technologies would like to thank Michał Bentkowski for discovering this vulnerability.

References

https://www.tiny.cloud/docs/release-notes/release-notes514/#securityfixes

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Record
GHSA-27gm-ghr9-4v95
Weakness
CWE-79
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
tinymce
npm
before 4.9.7
4.9.7
tinymce
npm
5.0.0 up to 5.1.4
5.1.4
tinymce
Ubuntu:16.04:LTS
All versions, plus listed versions
3.4.8+dfsg0-1
None known
tinymce
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS
All versions, plus listed versions
3.4.8+dfsg0-2
None known
tinymce
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS
All versions, plus listed versions
3.4.8+dfsg0-2
None known

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
aliasesEUVD
first indexedCVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2020-17480 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.1) in Tiny Tinymce, published January 30, 2020. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.25%, the 69th percentile. Fixed in tinymce 4.9.7.

References

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