CVE-2022-39350

Description

Due to the common practice of providing vulnerability details in markdown format, the Dependency-Track frontend renders them using the JavaScript library Showdown. Showdown does not have any XSS countermeasures built in, and versions before 4.6.1 of the Dependency-Track frontend did not encode or sanitize Showdown's output. This made it possible for arbitrary JavaScript included in vulnerability details via HTML attributes to be executed in context of the frontend.

Credit

Thanks to GitHub user Waterstraal for finding and responsibly disclosing the issue.

Actors with the VULNERABILITY_MANAGEMENT permission can exploit this weakness by creating or editing a custom vulnerability and providing XSS payloads in any of the following fields:

• Description
• Details
• Recommendation
• References

The payload will be executed for users with the VIEW_PORTFOLIO permission when browsing to the modified vulnerability's page, for example:

https://dtrack.example.com/vulnerabilities/INTERNAL/INT-jd8u-e8tl-8lwu

Alternatively, malicious JavaScript could be introduced via any of the vulnerability databases mirrored by Dependency-Track (NVD, GitHub Advisories, OSV, OSS Index, VulnDB). However, this attack vector is highly unlikely, and the team is not aware of any occurrence of this happening.

Note
The Vulnerability Details element of the Audit Vulnerabilities tab in the project view is not affected.

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-2022-39350 has a CVSS score of 5.4 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, low 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 (4.6.1); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

The issue has been fixed in frontend version 4.6.1.

1. What is CVE-2022-39350? CVE-2022-39350 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in @dependencytrack/frontend (npm), affecting versions < 4.6.1. It is fixed in 4.6.1. Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session.
2. How severe is CVE-2022-39350? CVE-2022-39350 has a CVSS score of 5.4 (Medium). 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.
3. Which versions of @dependencytrack/frontend are affected by CVE-2022-39350? @dependencytrack/frontend (npm) versions < 4.6.1 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2022-39350? Yes. CVE-2022-39350 is fixed in 4.6.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is CVE-2022-39350 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2022-39350 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
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2022-39350 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.
7. How do I fix CVE-2022-39350? Upgrade @dependencytrack/frontend to 4.6.1 or later.