HTML Cleaner allows crafted scripts in special contexts like svg or math to pass through
### Impact The HTML Parser in lxml does not properly handle context-switching for special HTML tags such as `<svg>`, `<math>` and `<noscript>`. This behavior deviates from how web browsers parse and interpret such tags. Specifically, content in CSS comments is ignored by lxml_html_clean but may be interpreted differently by web browsers, enabling malicious scripts to bypass the cleaning process. This vulnerability could lead to Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks, compromising the security of users relying on lxml_html_clean in default configuration for sanitizing untrusted HTML content. ### Patches Users employing the HTML cleaner in a security-sensitive context should upgrade to lxml 0.4.0, which addresses this issue. ### Workarounds As a temporary mitigation, users can configure lxml_html_clean with the following settings to prevent the exploitation of this vulnerability: * `remove_tags`: Specify tags to remove - their content is moved to their parents' tags. * `kill_tags`: Specify tags to be removed completely. * `allow_tags`: Restrict the set of permissible tags, excluding context-switching tags like `<svg>`, `<math>` and `<noscript>`. ### References * https://github.com/fedora-python/lxml_html_clean/pull/19 * https://github.com/fedora-python/lxml_html_clean/pull/19/commits/c5d816f86eb3707d72a8ecf5f3823e0daa1b3808
describes (1)
Related CVEs.
| ID | severity | exploitable | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2024-52595US | medium6.1 | — | ||
lxml_html_clean is a project for HTML cleaning functionalities copied from `lxml.html.clean`. Prior to version 0.4.0, the HTML Parser in lxml does not properly handle context-switc… | ||||
references
External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.
- https://github.com/fedora-python/lxml_html_cleanPACKAGE
- https://github.com/fedora-python/lxml_html_clean/commit/c5d816f86eb3707d72a8ecf5f3823e0daa1b3808WEB
- https://github.com/fedora-python/lxml_html_clean/pull/19WEB
- https://github.com/fedora-python/lxml_html_clean/security/advisories/GHSA-5jfw-gq64-q45fWEB
- https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/lxml-html-clean/PYSEC-2024-160.yamlWEB
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-52595ADVISORY
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