Summary
govuktechdocs vulnerable to unescaped HTML on search results page
Impact
Pages that are indexed in search results have their entire contents indexed, including any HTML code snippets. These HTML snippets would appear in the search results unsanitised, so it was possible to render arbitrary HTML or run arbitrary scripts.
This is a low risk security issue; to exploit it, an attacker would need to find a way of committing malicious code to a page indexed by a site that uses tech-docs-gem (which are typically not editable by untrusted users). Their code would also be limited by the relatively short length that's rendered in the corresponding search result. Nevertheless, the XSS would then be triggerable by visiting a pre-constructed URL (/search/index.html?q=some+search+term), which users could be tricked into clicking on through social engineering.
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.
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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This has been fixed in v3.3.1. HTML is now sanitised in search results.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2024-22048? CVE-2024-22048 is a low-severity cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in govuk_tech_docs (rubygems), affecting versions >= 2.0.2, < 3.3.1. It is fixed in 3.3.1. Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session.
- Which versions of govuk_tech_docs are affected by CVE-2024-22048? govuk_tech_docs (rubygems) versions >= 2.0.2, < 3.3.1 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2024-22048? Yes. CVE-2024-22048 is fixed in 3.3.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2024-22048 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2024-22048 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-2024-22048 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-2024-22048? Upgrade
govuk_tech_docsto 3.3.1 or later.