CVE-2023-40013
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') in external-svg-loader
SVG Loader is a javascript library that fetches SVGs using XMLHttpRequests and injects the SVG code in the tag's place. According to the docs, svg-loader will strip all JS code before injecting the SVG file for security reasons but the input sanitization logic is not sufficient and can be trivially bypassed. This allows an attacker to craft a malicious SVG which can result in Cross-site Scripting (XSS). When trying to sanitize the svg the lib removes event attributes such as onmouseover, onclick but the list of events is not exhaustive. Any website which uses external-svg-loader and allows its users to provide svg src, upload svg files would be susceptible to stored XSS attack. This issue has been addressed in commit d3562fc08 which is included in releases from 1.6.9. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- Required
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- Low
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
7.1
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') in external-svg-loader
SVG Loader is a javascript library that fetches SVGs using XMLHttpRequests and injects the SVG code in the tag's place. According to the docs, svg-loader will strip all JS code before injecting the SVG file for security reasons but the input sanitization logic is not sufficient and can be trivially bypassed. This allows an attacker to craft a malicious SVG which can result in Cross-site Scripting (XSS). When trying to sanitize the svg the lib removes event attributes such as onmouseover, onclick but the list of events is not exhaustive. Any website which uses external-svg-loader and allows its users to provide svg src, upload svg files would be susceptible to stored XSS attack. This issue has been addressed in commit d3562fc08 which is included in releases from 1.6.9. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2023-40013- CVSS 3.1
- 7.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L - Weakness
- CWE-79
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-2379
7.1
SVG Loader is a javascript library that fetches SVGs using XMLHttpRequests and injects the SVG code in the tag's place. According to the docs, svg-loader will strip all JS code before injecting the SVG file for security reasons but the input sanitization logic is not sufficient and can be trivially bypassed. This allows an attacker to craft a malicious SVG which can result in Cross-site Scripting (XSS). When trying to sanitize the svg the lib removes event attributes such as onmouseover, onclick but the list of events is not exhaustive. Any website which uses external-svg-loader and allows its users to provide svg src, upload svg files would be susceptible to stored XSS attack. This issue has been addressed in commit d3562fc08 which is included in releases from 1.6.9. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
EUVD-2023-2379- CVSS 3.1
- 7.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-xc2r-jf2x-gjr8
9.8
external-svg-loader Cross-site Scripting vulnerability
Summary
According to the docs, svg-loader will strip all JS code before injecting the SVG file for security reasons but the input sanitization logic is not sufficient and can be trivially bypassed. This allows an attacker to craft a malicious SVG which can result in XSS.
Details
When trying to sanitize the svg the lib removes event attributes such as onmouseover, onclick but the list of events is not exhaustive. Here's a list of events not removed by svg-loader.
onafterscriptexecute, onbeforecopy, onbeforecut, onbeforescriptexecute, onbeforetoggle, onbegin, onbounce, onend, onfinish, onfocusin, onfocusout, onmousewheel, onpointerrawupdate, onrepeat, onsearch, onshow, onstart, ontoggle(popover), ontouchend, ontouchmove, ontouchstart
As you can see in the POC we can use onbegin in animate tag to execute JS code without needing to add data-js="enabled".
PoC
<svg version="1.1" baseProfile="full" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<animate onbegin=alert(1) attributeName=x dur=1s>
</svg>
<html>
<head>
<script src="./dist/svg-loader.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
<svg data-src="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB2ZXJzaW9uPSIxLjEiIGJhc2VQcm9maWxlPSJmdWxsIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPgogIDxwb2x5Z29uIGlkPSJ0cmlhbmdsZSIgcG9pbnRzPSIwLDAgMCw1MCA1MCwwIiBmaWxsPSIjMDA5OTAwIiBzdHJva2U9IiMwMDQ0MDAiLz4KICA8YW5pbWF0ZSBvbmJlZ2luPWFsZXJ0KDEpIGF0dHJpYnV0ZU5hbWU9eCBkdXI9MXM+Cjwvc3ZnPgo="></svg>
</body>
</html>
Impact
Any website which uses external-svg-loader and allows its users to provide svg src, upload svg files would be susceptible to stored XSS attack.
- Record
GHSA-xc2r-jf2x-gjr8- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-79
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
7.1
SVG Loader is a javascript library that fetches SVGs using XMLHttpRequests and injects the SVG code in the tag's place. According to the docs, svg-loader will strip all JS code before injecting the SVG file for security reasons but the input sanitization logic is not sufficient and can be trivially bypassed. This allows an attacker to craft a malicious SVG which can result in Cross-site Scripting (XSS). When trying to sanitize the svg the lib removes event attributes such as onmouseover, onclick but the list of events is not exhaustive. Any website which uses external-svg-loader and allows its users to provide svg src, upload svg files would be susceptible to stored XSS attack. This issue has been addressed in commit d3562fc08 which is included in releases from 1.6.9. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2023-40013- CVSS 3.1
- 7.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L - CVSS 3.1
- 5.4 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-79
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
7.1
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') in external-svg-loader
SVG Loader is a javascript library that fetches SVGs using XMLHttpRequests and injects the SVG code in the tag's place. According to the docs, svg-loader will strip all JS code before injecting the SVG file for security reasons but the input sanitization logic is not sufficient and can be trivially bypassed. This allows an attacker to craft a malicious SVG which can result in Cross-site Scripting (XSS). When trying to sanitize the svg the lib removes event attributes such as onmouseover, onclick but the list of events is not exhaustive. Any website which uses external-svg-loader and allows its users to provide svg src, upload svg files would be susceptible to stored XSS attack. This issue has been addressed in commit d3562fc08 which is included in releases from 1.6.9. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2023-40013- CVSS 3.1
- 7.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L - Weakness
- CWE-79
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-xc2r-jf2x-gjr8
9.8
external-svg-loader Cross-site Scripting vulnerability
Summary
According to the docs, svg-loader will strip all JS code before injecting the SVG file for security reasons but the input sanitization logic is not sufficient and can be trivially bypassed. This allows an attacker to craft a malicious SVG which can result in XSS.
Details
When trying to sanitize the svg the lib removes event attributes such as onmouseover, onclick but the list of events is not exhaustive. Here's a list of events not removed by svg-loader.
onafterscriptexecute, onbeforecopy, onbeforecut, onbeforescriptexecute, onbeforetoggle, onbegin, onbounce, onend, onfinish, onfocusin, onfocusout, onmousewheel, onpointerrawupdate, onrepeat, onsearch, onshow, onstart, ontoggle(popover), ontouchend, ontouchmove, ontouchstart
As you can see in the POC we can use onbegin in animate tag to execute JS code without needing to add data-js="enabled".
PoC
<svg version="1.1" baseProfile="full" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<animate onbegin=alert(1) attributeName=x dur=1s>
</svg>
<html>
<head>
<script src="./dist/svg-loader.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
<svg data-src="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB2ZXJzaW9uPSIxLjEiIGJhc2VQcm9maWxlPSJmdWxsIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPgogIDxwb2x5Z29uIGlkPSJ0cmlhbmdsZSIgcG9pbnRzPSIwLDAgMCw1MCA1MCwwIiBmaWxsPSIjMDA5OTAwIiBzdHJva2U9IiMwMDQ0MDAiLz4KICA8YW5pbWF0ZSBvbmJlZ2luPWFsZXJ0KDEpIGF0dHJpYnV0ZU5hbWU9eCBkdXI9MXM+Cjwvc3ZnPgo="></svg>
</body>
</html>
Impact
Any website which uses external-svg-loader and allows its users to provide svg src, upload svg files would be susceptible to stored XSS attack.
- Record
GHSA-xc2r-jf2x-gjr8- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-79
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
external-svg-loadernpm |
before 1.6.9 | 1.6.9 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2023-40013 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.1) in Shubhamjain Svg-loader, published August 14, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.56%, the 46th percentile. Fixed in external-svg-loader 1.6.9.
References
github.com/shubhamjain/svg-loader/security/advisories/GHSA-xc2r-jf2x-gjr8
github.com/shubhamjain/svg-loader/commit/d3562fc08497aec5f33eb82017fa1417b3319e2c
github.com/shubhamjain/svg-loader/blob/main/svg-loader.js
github.com/shubhamjain/svg-loader/tree/main
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-40013
github.com/advisories/GHSA-xc2r-jf2x-gjr8
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/40xxx/CVE-2023-40013.json
github.com/shubhamjain/svg-loader