CVE-2023-48219: TinyMCE Mutation Cross-site Scripting Vulnerability
Summary
CVE-2023-48219: TinyMCE vulnerable to mutation Cross-site Scripting via special characters in unescaped text nodes. Affects tinymce across 2 version ranges.
< 5.10.9
>= 6.0.0, < 6.7.3
Fixed in 5.10.9 or 6.7.3, depending on the release line you run. How to fix ↓
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Background
TinyMCE is a popular open-source WYSIWYG editor used for creating rich text content in web applications. It provides a user-friendly interface for editing and formatting text, allowing developers to integrate it into their applications easily. However, TinyMCE is vulnerable to a mutation cross-site scripting (mXSS) attack, which can lead to the execution of malicious code in the context of the affected user's browser.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability in TinyMCE arises from the improper handling of unescaped text nodes within specific parents during serialization. When these text nodes contain special characters reserved as internal markers, they can be combined with other HTML patterns to form malicious snippets. Although the initial sanitization layer may pass the content when parsed into the editor body, the removal of the special internal marker can trigger an XSS vulnerability upon re-parsing. This vulnerability can be exploited through various APIs and plugins, including the core undo/redo functionality, tinymce.Editor.getContent({ format: 'raw' }), tinymce.Editor.resetContent(), and the Autosave Plugin.
How To Fix
Latest published version: 8.10.0 as of 23 Oct 2026
npm install tinymce@8.10.0Upgrading to it may include breaking changes; the versions below are the minimum fixed release for this vulnerability.
If you can't move to the latest
The minimum fixed version depends on the release line you run.
-
< 5.10.95.10.9npm install tinymce@5.10.9 -
>= 6.0.0, < 6.7.36.7.3npm install tinymce@6.7.3
Tip — Not sure which release line you're on? Vulert can find the fix for the version you are using. Scan free →
Workaround
There is no known workaround for this vulnerability. It is essential to upgrade to the patched versions of TinyMCE to mitigate the risk of exploitation.
Conclusion
The vulnerability in TinyMCE poses a risk of mutation cross-site scripting (mXSS) attacks, allowing malicious actors to execute arbitrary code in the context of affected users' browsers. To mitigate this risk, it is crucial to upgrade to the latest patched versions of TinyMCE. For further support and assistance in vulnerability remediation, please contact DevNack.com.
See every vulnerability recorded for tinymce →
FAQ
TinyMCE is an open-source WYSIWYG editor used for creating rich text content in web applications.
Mutation cross-site scripting is a type of XSS attack that occurs when an application modifies its own DOM structure, allowing an attacker to inject malicious code.
The vulnerability can be exploited by crafting malicious snippets using special characters in unescaped text nodes, which can trigger XSS when the special internal marker is removed and the content is re-parsed.
No, there are no known workarounds. It is recommended to upgrade to the patched versions of TinyMCE.
To fix the vulnerability, upgrade to TinyMCE 6.7.3 or higher for TinyMCE 6.x, or upgrade to TinyMCE 5.10.9 or higher for TinyMCE 5.x.
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