Summary
JSPUI spellcheck and autocomplete tools vulnerable to Cross Site Scripting
Apply the patch to your DSpace
If at all possible, we recommend upgrading your DSpace site based on the upgrade instructions. However, if you are unable to do so, you can manually apply the above patches as follows:
- Download the appropriate patch file to the machine where DSpace is running
- From the
[dspace-src]folder, apply the patch, e.g.git apply [name-of-file].patch - Now, update your DSpace site (based loosely on the Upgrade instructions). This generally involves three steps:
- Rebuild DSpace, e.g.
mvn -U clean package(This will recompile all DSpace code) - Redeploy DSpace, e.g.
ant update(This will copy all updated WARs / configs to your installation directory). Depending on your setup you also may need to copy the updated WARs over to your Tomcat webapps folder. - Restart Tomcat
- Rebuild DSpace, e.g.
References
Discovered & reported by Hassan Bhuiyan (Brunel University London)
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Email us at [email protected]
Impact
The JSPUI spellcheck "Did you mean" HTML escapes the data-spell attribute in the link, but not the actual displayed text. Similarly, the JSPUI autocomplete HTML does not properly escape text passed to it. Both are vulnerable to XSS. This vulnerability only impacts the JSPUI.
This vulnerability does NOT impact the XMLUI or 7.x.
Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session. Typical impact: session or credential theft, and actions taken as the user.
CVE-2022-31191 has a CVSS score of 7.1 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and user interaction required. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (5.11, 6.4); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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DSpace 6.x:
- Fixed in 6.4 via two commits:
- Fix for spellcheck: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/commit/ebb83a75234d3de9be129464013e998dc929b68d
- Fix for autocomplete: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/commit/35030a23e48b5946f5853332c797e1c4adea7bb7
- 6.x patch files available (may be applied manually if an immediate upgrade to 6.4 or above is not possible)
- Fix for spellcheck: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/commit/ebb83a75234d3de9be129464013e998dc929b68d.patch
- Fix for autocomplete: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/commit/35030a23e48b5946f5853332c797e1c4adea7bb7.patch
DSpace 5.x:
- Fixed in 5.11 via two commits:
- Fix for spellcheck: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/commit/c89e493e517b424dea6175caba54e91d3847fc3a
- Fix for autocomplete: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/commit/6f75bb084ab1937d094208c55cd84340040bcbb5
- 5.x patch files available (may be applied manually if an immediate upgrade to 5.11 or 6.4 is not possible)
- Fix for spellcheck: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/commit/c89e493e517b424dea6175caba54e91d3847fc3a.patch
- Fix for autocomplete: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/commit/6f75bb084ab1937d094208c55cd84340040bcbb5.patch
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2022-31191? CVE-2022-31191 is a high-severity cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in org.dspace:dspace-jspui (maven), affecting versions >= 4.0, < 5.11. It is fixed in 5.11, 6.4. Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session.
- How severe is CVE-2022-31191? CVE-2022-31191 has a CVSS score of 7.1 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of org.dspace:dspace-jspui are affected by CVE-2022-31191? org.dspace:dspace-jspui (maven) versions >= 4.0, < 5.11 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2022-31191? Yes. CVE-2022-31191 is fixed in 5.11, 6.4. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2022-31191 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2022-31191 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2022-31191 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2022-31191?
- Upgrade
org.dspace:dspace-jspuito 5.11 or later - Upgrade
org.dspace:dspace-jspuito 6.4 or later
- Upgrade