Every CVE Search/ Get API key

CVE-2024-53988

Possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of rails-html-sanitizer 1.6.0

2.3 LowFix available

rails-html-sanitizer is responsible for sanitizing HTML fragments in Rails applications. There is a possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer 1.6.0 when used with Rails >= 7.1.0. A possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer may allow an attacker to inject content if HTML5 sanitization is enabled and the application developer has overridden the sanitizer's allowed tags where the "math", "mtext", "table", and "style" elements are allowed and either either "mglyph" or "malignmark" are allowed. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.6.1.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges needed
None
User interaction
Passive

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
None

Exploit likelihood

0.45%Up 0.4 points since Dec 3, 2024
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 2.3

Possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of rails-html-sanitizer 1.6.0

rails-html-sanitizer is responsible for sanitizing HTML fragments in Rails applications. There is a possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer 1.6.0 when used with Rails >= 7.1.0. A possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer may allow an attacker to inject content if HTML5 sanitization is enabled and the application developer has overridden the sanitizer's allowed tags where the "math", "mtext", "table", and "style" elements are allowed and either either "mglyph" or "malignmark" are allowed. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.6.1.

Record
CVE-2024-53988
CVSS 4.0
2.3 LowCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N
Weakness
CWE-79
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2024-3460 2.3

rails-html-sanitizer is responsible for sanitizing HTML fragments in Rails applications. There is a possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer 1.6.0 when used with Rails >= 7.1.0. A possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer may allow an attacker to inject content if HTML5 sanitization is enabled and the application developer has overridden the sanitizer's allowed tags where the "math", "mtext", "table", and "style" elements are allowed and either either "mglyph" or "malignmark" are allowed. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.6.1.

Record
EUVD-2024-3460
CVSS 4.0
2.3 LowCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N
Updated
2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-cfjx-w229-hgx5 2.3

rails-html-sanitizer has XSS vulnerability with certain configurations

Summary

There is a possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer 1.6.0 when used with Rails >= 7.1.0.

  • Versions affected: 1.6.0
  • Not affected: < 1.6.0
  • Fixed versions: 1.6.1

Impact

A possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer may allow an attacker to inject content if HTML5 sanitization is enabled and the application developer has overridden the sanitizer's allowed tags in the following way:

  • the "math", "mtext", "table", and "style" elements are allowed
  • and either "mglyph" or "malignmark" are allowed

Code is only impacted if Rails is configured to use HTML5 sanitization, please see documentation for config.action_view.sanitizer_vendor and config.action_text.sanitizer_vendor for more information on these configuration options.

The default configuration is to disallow all of these elements except for "table". Code is only impacted if allowed tags are being overridden. Applications may be doing this in a few different ways:

  1. using application configuration to configure Action View sanitizers' allowed tags:
# In config/application.rb
config.action_view.sanitized_allowed_tags = ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "mglyph"]
# or
config.action_view.sanitized_allowed_tags = ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "malignmark"]

see https://guides.rubyonrails.org/configuring.html#configuring-action-view

  1. using a :tags option to the Action View helper sanitize:
<%= sanitize @comment.body, tags: ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "mglyph"] %>
<%# or %>
<%= sanitize @comment.body, tags: ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "malignmark"] %>

see https://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionView/Helpers/SanitizeHelper.html#method-i-sanitize

  1. setting Rails::HTML5::SafeListSanitizer class attribute allowed_tags:
# class-level option
Rails::HTML5::SafeListSanitizer.allowed_tags = ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "mglyph"]
# or
Rails::HTML5::SafeListSanitizer.allowed_tags = ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "malignmark"]

(note that this class may also be referenced as Rails::Html::SafeListSanitizer)

  1. using a :tags options to the Rails::HTML5::SafeListSanitizer instance method sanitize:
# instance-level option
Rails::HTML5::SafeListSanitizer.new.sanitize(@article.body, tags: ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "mglyph"])
# or
Rails::HTML5::SafeListSanitizer.new.sanitize(@article.body, tags: ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "malignmark"])

(note that this class may also be referenced as Rails::Html::SafeListSanitizer)

  1. setting ActionText::ContentHelper module attribute allowed_tags:
ActionText::ContentHelper.allowed_tags = ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "mglyph"]
# or
ActionText::ContentHelper.allowed_tags = ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "malignmark"]

All users overriding the allowed tags by any of the above mechanisms to include ("math" and "mtext" and "table" and "style" and ("mglyph" or "malignmark")) should either upgrade or use one of the workarounds.

Workarounds

Any one of the following actions will work around this issue:

References

Record
GHSA-cfjx-w229-hgx5
CVSS 4.0
2.3 LowCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N
Weakness
CWE-79
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 2.3

rails-html-sanitizer is responsible for sanitizing HTML fragments in Rails applications. There is a possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer 1.6.0 when used with Rails >= 7.1.0. A possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer may allow an attacker to inject content if HTML5 sanitization is enabled and the application developer has overridden the sanitizer's allowed tags where the "math", "mtext", "table", and "style" elements are allowed and either either "mglyph" or "malignmark" are allowed. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.6.1.

Record
CVE-2024-53988
CVSS 4.0
2.3 LowCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
CVSS 3.1
6.1 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Weakness
CWE-79
Updated
2026-11-02
OSV 2.3

Possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of rails-html-sanitizer 1.6.0

rails-html-sanitizer is responsible for sanitizing HTML fragments in Rails applications. There is a possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer 1.6.0 when used with Rails >= 7.1.0. A possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer may allow an attacker to inject content if HTML5 sanitization is enabled and the application developer has overridden the sanitizer's allowed tags where the "math", "mtext", "table", and "style" elements are allowed and either either "mglyph" or "malignmark" are allowed. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.6.1.

Record
CVE-2024-53988
CVSS 4.0
2.3 LowCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N
Weakness
CWE-79
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-cfjx-w229-hgx5 2.3

rails-html-sanitizer has XSS vulnerability with certain configurations

Summary

There is a possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer 1.6.0 when used with Rails >= 7.1.0.

  • Versions affected: 1.6.0
  • Not affected: < 1.6.0
  • Fixed versions: 1.6.1

Impact

A possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer may allow an attacker to inject content if HTML5 sanitization is enabled and the application developer has overridden the sanitizer's allowed tags in the following way:

  • the "math", "mtext", "table", and "style" elements are allowed
  • and either "mglyph" or "malignmark" are allowed

Code is only impacted if Rails is configured to use HTML5 sanitization, please see documentation for config.action_view.sanitizer_vendor and config.action_text.sanitizer_vendor for more information on these configuration options.

The default configuration is to disallow all of these elements except for "table". Code is only impacted if allowed tags are being overridden. Applications may be doing this in a few different ways:

  1. using application configuration to configure Action View sanitizers' allowed tags:
# In config/application.rb
config.action_view.sanitized_allowed_tags = ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "mglyph"]
# or
config.action_view.sanitized_allowed_tags = ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "malignmark"]

see https://guides.rubyonrails.org/configuring.html#configuring-action-view

  1. using a :tags option to the Action View helper sanitize:
<%= sanitize @comment.body, tags: ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "mglyph"] %>
<%# or %>
<%= sanitize @comment.body, tags: ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "malignmark"] %>

see https://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionView/Helpers/SanitizeHelper.html#method-i-sanitize

  1. setting Rails::HTML5::SafeListSanitizer class attribute allowed_tags:
# class-level option
Rails::HTML5::SafeListSanitizer.allowed_tags = ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "mglyph"]
# or
Rails::HTML5::SafeListSanitizer.allowed_tags = ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "malignmark"]

(note that this class may also be referenced as Rails::Html::SafeListSanitizer)

  1. using a :tags options to the Rails::HTML5::SafeListSanitizer instance method sanitize:
# instance-level option
Rails::HTML5::SafeListSanitizer.new.sanitize(@article.body, tags: ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "mglyph"])
# or
Rails::HTML5::SafeListSanitizer.new.sanitize(@article.body, tags: ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "malignmark"])

(note that this class may also be referenced as Rails::Html::SafeListSanitizer)

  1. setting ActionText::ContentHelper module attribute allowed_tags:
ActionText::ContentHelper.allowed_tags = ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "mglyph"]
# or
ActionText::ContentHelper.allowed_tags = ["math", "mtext", "table", "style", "malignmark"]

All users overriding the allowed tags by any of the above mechanisms to include ("math" and "mtext" and "table" and "style" and ("mglyph" or "malignmark")) should either upgrade or use one of the workarounds.

Workarounds

Any one of the following actions will work around this issue:

References

Record
GHSA-cfjx-w229-hgx5
CVSS 4.0
2.3 LowCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N
Weakness
CWE-79
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2024-53988 2.3

rails-html-sanitizer is responsible for sanitizing HTML fragments in Rails applications. There is a possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer 1.6.0 when used with Rails >= 7.1.0. A possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer may allow an attacker to inject content if HTML5 sanitization is enabled and the application developer has overridden the sanitizer's allowed tags where the "math", "mtext", "table", and "style" elements are allowed and either either "mglyph" or "malignmark" are allowed. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.6.1.

Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2024-53988
CVSS 4.0
2.3 LowCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N
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
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2026:10569-1 No score

ruby4.0-rubygem-rails-html-sanitizer-1.7.0-1.1 on GA media

These are all security issues fixed in the ruby4.0-rubygem-rails-html-sanitizer-1.7.0-1.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.

Record
openSUSE-SU-2026:10569-1
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
rails-html-sanitizer
RubyGems
 1.6.0 to 1.6.0
1.6.1
rails-html-sanitizer
RubyGems
 1.6.0 up to 1.6.1
1.6.1
ruby-rails-html-sanitizer
Ubuntu:16.04:LTS
 All versions, plus listed versions
1.0.2-11.0.3-11.0.3-2
 None known
ruby-rails-html-sanitizer
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS
 All versions, plus listed versions
1.0.3-21.0.4-1
 None known
ruby-rails-html-sanitizer
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS
 All versions, plus listed versions
1.0.4-11.3.0-1
 None known
ruby-rails-html-sanitizer
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS
 All versions, plus listed versions
1.3.0-21.4.2-11.4.2-2
 None known
ruby-rails-html-sanitizer
Ubuntu:24.04:LTS
 All versions, plus listed versions
1.4.4-1
 None known
ruby-rails-html-sanitizer
Ubuntu:25.10
 All versions, plus listed versions
1.4.4-11.6.2-1
 None known
ruby-rails-html-sanitizer
Ubuntu:26.10
 All versions, plus listed versions
1.6.2-11.7.0-21.7.1-1
 None known
ruby-rails-html-sanitizer
Ubuntu:26.04:LTS
 All versions, plus listed versions
1.6.2-1
 None known
rubygem-rails-html-sanitizer
openSUSE:Tumbleweed
From an advisory covering 5 CVEs
 before 1.7.0-1.1
1.7.0-1.1

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
affected, facts
aliases, publishedEUVD
first indexedCVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

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

In short

CVE-2024-53988 is a low vulnerability (CVSS 2.3) in Rails Rails-html-sanitizer, published December 2, 2024. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.45%, the 39th percentile. Fixed in rails-html-sanitizer 1.6.1.

References

Show 8 moreShow less
This page doesn't list everything

Left out here: the rest of 2 source descriptions. The JSON record has them.

Pages All vulnerabilities Browse Docs Sources Guide Get API key
MoveEnter Open