GHSA-CJ3W-G42V-WCJ6

ibexa/fieldtype-richtext allows access to external entities in XML

Credits

This vulnerability was discovered and reported to Ibexa by Dennis Henke, Thorsten Niephaus, Marat Aytuganov, and Stephan Sekula of Compass Security Deutschland GmbH. We thank them for reporting it responsibly to us.

Workarounds

• Exploitation requires edit access to RichText content. If you can trust your editors, and you don't grant edit permission to any externals, you are not at risk in practice.

References

• https://developers.ibexa.co/security-advisories/ibexa-sa-2025-002-xxe-vulnerability-in-richtext

This security advisory resolves a vulnerability in the RichText field type. By entering a maliciously crafted input into the RichText XML, an attacker could perform an attack using XML external entity (XXE) injection, which might be able to read files on the server. To exploit this vulnerability the attacker would need to already have edit permission to content with RichText fields, which typically means Editor role or higher. The fix removes unsafe elements from XML code, while preserving safe elements.

If you have a stored XXE attack in your content drafts, the fix prevents it from extracting data both during editing and preview. However, if such an attack has already been published and the result is stored in the content, it is unfortunately not possible to detect and remove it by automatic means.

An XML parser processes external entity references in untrusted input, causing the server to fetch internal resources or remote URLs. Typical impact: local file disclosure, server-side request forgery, or denial of service.

Kodem intelligence

Already deployed Kodem?

• See "Patched versions"
• https://github.com/ibexa/fieldtype-richtext/commit/823cba6b5ee2e81d7d74e622ce42c1451e8e1337

1. What is GHSA-CJ3W-G42V-WCJ6? GHSA-CJ3W-G42V-WCJ6 is a high-severity XML external entity injection (XXE) vulnerability in ibexa/fieldtype-richtext (composer), affecting versions >= 4.6.0-beta1, < 4.6.19. It is fixed in 4.6.19. An XML parser processes external entity references in untrusted input, causing the server to fetch internal resources or remote URLs.
2. Which versions of ibexa/fieldtype-richtext are affected by GHSA-CJ3W-G42V-WCJ6? ibexa/fieldtype-richtext (composer) versions >= 4.6.0-beta1, < 4.6.19 is affected.
3. Is there a fix for GHSA-CJ3W-G42V-WCJ6? Yes. GHSA-CJ3W-G42V-WCJ6 is fixed in 4.6.19. Upgrade to this version or later.
4. Is GHSA-CJ3W-G42V-WCJ6 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-CJ3W-G42V-WCJ6 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
5. What actually determines whether GHSA-CJ3W-G42V-WCJ6 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.
6. How do I fix GHSA-CJ3W-G42V-WCJ6? Upgrade ibexa/fieldtype-richtext to 4.6.19 or later.

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