Arbitrary code injection in json-sanitizer

published 2021-01-13 5y ago modified 2026-06-17 4mo ago also GHSA-mm8j-9x84-m9cv , EUVD-2021-1360

cvss: 9.8; version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 2.1%; EPSS 2.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 81%
public exploits: 0; none known

OWASP json-sanitizer before 1.2.2 may emit closing SCRIPT tags and CDATA section delimiters for crafted input. This allows an attacker to inject arbitrary HTML or XML into embedding documents.

Patch / fix

fixed in 2 links 2

maven com.mikesamuel:json-sanitizer 1.2.2
owasp json-sanitizer 1.2.2

github.com/OWASP/json-sanitizer@a37f594 commit
github.com/OWASP/json-sanitizer/compare/v1.2.1...v1.2.2 advisory

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Exploit prediction

2.09% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 81% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	3.1	9.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD	2.0	7.5	AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
GitHub	3.1	9.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem	package	affected	fixed in
maven	com.mikesamuel:json-sanitizer	<1.2.2	1.2.2

Classification

Weakness

CWE-611 Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference

References

github.com /OWASP/json-sanitizer/commit/a37f594f7378a1c76b3283e0dab9e1ab1dc0247e
web, patch, third-party-advisory
github.com /OWASP/json-sanitizer/compare/v1.2.1...v1.2.2
web, patch, third-party-advisory
groups.google.com /g/json-sanitizer-support/c/dAW1AeNMoA0
web, third-party-advisory
nvd.nist.gov /vuln/detail/CVE-2021-23899
advisory

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.