High

HTML injection in search results via plaintext message highlighting

  • Disclosed: 25.04.2023
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 10:22

Impact

Plain text messages containing HTML tags are rendered as HTML in the search results. To exploit this, an attacker needs to trick a user into searching for a specific message containing an HTML injection payload.

Cross-site scripting is possible by including resources from recaptcha.net and gstatic.com which are included in the default CSP.

Thanks to Cadence Ember for finding the injection and to S1m for finding possible XSS vectors.

Patches

Version 3.71.0 of the SDK fixes the issue.

Workarounds

Restarting the client will clear the injection.

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
npm package matrix-react-sdk < 3.71.0 3.71.0

References

CVSS score 8.2/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:L
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-74, CWE-79
Platform
npm
Package
matrix-react-sdk
Disclosed
25.04.2023
Updated
11.10.2026 10:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-xv83-x443-7rmw - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: matrix-react-sdk

All published vulnerabilities of this package (npm package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

Total entries
8
First → latest
03.2021 10.2024
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • High 4
  • Medium 3
  • Low 1

Disclosures per year

  1. 2021: 2
  2. 2022: 0
  3. 2023: 4
  4. 2024: 2
  5. 2025: 0
  6. 2026: 0
  1. Medium · 6.1 CVE-2023-37259 >= 3.32.0, < 3.76.0 3.76.0
  2. HTML injection in search results via plaintext message highlighting this entry
    High · 8.2 CVE-2023-30609 < 3.71.0 3.71.0
  3. High · 8.2 CVE-2023-28103 < 3.69.0 3.69.0
  4. High · 7.2 CVE-2022-36060 < 3.53.0 3.53.0
  5. Medium · 4.2 CVE-2021-32622 < 3.21.0 3.21.0

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