CVE-2016-1000231: Cross-Site Scripting in emojione

Background

The emojione package is an npm package that provides a library for converting emoji shortcodes and Unicode to images. It is commonly used in web applications to display emojis. However, versions of emojione up to 1.3.0 are vulnerable to a cross-site scripting (XSS) attack when user input is passed into certain functions. This vulnerability can allow an attacker to inject malicious code into the application, potentially leading to unauthorized access, data theft, or other malicious activities.

Vulnerability Detail

The vulnerability in emojione arises from a lack of proper input sanitization and validation in the toShort(), shortnameToImage(), unicodeToImage(), and toImage() functions. When user input is not properly sanitized, an attacker can craft malicious input that includes JavaScript code. This code will then be executed in the context of the application, allowing the attacker to perform actions on behalf of the user or manipulate the application's behavior. This vulnerability has a high severity rating and is classified as CWE-79, which is the Common Weakness Enumeration for Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting').

npm install emojione@1.3.1

Workaround

If updating the package is not immediately feasible, a temporary workaround is to manually sanitize and validate user input before passing it to the vulnerable functions. This can be done using a library or framework that provides input sanitization and validation functions. Here is an example using the xss library:

const xss = require('xss');

const userInput = getUserInput();
const sanitizedInput = xss(userInput);

// Pass the sanitized input to the vulnerable functions
const result = emojione.toShort(sanitizedInput);

Note that this workaround is not a permanent solution and should be replaced with the recommended update as soon as possible.

Conclusion

The emojione package up to version 1.3.0 is vulnerable to a cross-site scripting (XSS) attack. It is recommended to update to version 1.3.1 or later to fix this vulnerability. If updating is not immediately feasible, manual input sanitization and validation can be used as a temporary workaround. For further support on vulnerability remediation, please contact DevNack.com.

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