Summary
OpenRefine's error page lacks escaping, leading to potential Cross-site Scripting on import of malicious project
The built-in "Something went wrong!" error page includes the exception message and exception traceback without escaping HTML tags, enabling injection into the page if an attacker can reliably produce an error with an attacker-influenced message.
It appears that the only way to reach this code in OpenRefine itself is for an attacker to somehow convince a victim to import a malicious file, as in GHSA-m88m-crr9-jvqq, which may be difficult. However, out-of-tree extensions may add their own calls to respondWithErrorPage.
Details
The Command.respondWithErrorPage (through HttpUtilities.respondWithErrorPage) function renders the Velocity template error.vt, which contains the $message and $stack variables, which are included in the response as-is:
https://github.com/OpenRefine/OpenRefine/blob/master/main/webapp/modules/core/error.vt#L52-L53
However, the message can contain HTML tags, which would then be interpreted by the browser. A mitigation would be to escape both the message and stack trace, perhaps using Guava's HTML escaper.
Flows that report errors as application/json responses are not interpreted by the browser and so not affected by this issue.
PoC
In OpenRefine, use the "Import project" feature to import the following URL (or upload it as a file): https://wandernauta.nl/oa/example.tar.gz
A JavaScript alert appears.
Impact
Execution of arbitrary JavaScript in the victim's browser, provided the victim can be convinced to import a malicious project. The script can do anything the user can do.
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-2024-47882 has a CVSS score of 5.9 (Medium). 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 (3.8.3); 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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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2024-47882? CVE-2024-47882 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in org.openrefine:openrefine (maven), affecting versions < 3.8.3. It is fixed in 3.8.3. Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session.
- How severe is CVE-2024-47882? CVE-2024-47882 has a CVSS score of 5.9 (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.
- Which versions of org.openrefine:openrefine are affected by CVE-2024-47882? org.openrefine:openrefine (maven) versions < 3.8.3 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2024-47882? Yes. CVE-2024-47882 is fixed in 3.8.3. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2024-47882 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2024-47882 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-2024-47882 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-2024-47882? Upgrade
org.openrefine:openrefineto 3.8.3 or later.