GO-2023-1751 BIT-golang-2023-24539 CVE-2023-24539
Improper sanitization of CSS values in html/template
High
Go
- Severity
- 7.3 / 10
- High · CVSS 3.1
- Exploit chance (EPSS)
- 1.04%
- Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 63.95% of scored vulnerabilities.
- Known exploited
- No
- Not in CISA's catalog
- Weakness
- CWE-74 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component ('Injection')
- CWE-94 Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
- Fix
1.20.4- Upgrade stdlib to this version or later
Description
Angle brackets (<>) are not considered dangerous characters when inserted into CSS contexts. Templates containing multiple actions separated by a '/' character can result in unexpectedly closing the CSS context and allowing for injection of unexpected HTML, if executed with untrusted input.
Affected versions
Go
| Package | Vulnerable | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| stdlib | < 1.19.9>= 1.20.0-0, < 1.20.4 |
1.19.91.20.4 |
How to fix
Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.
stdlib Go → 1.20.4
- go
go get stdlib@v1.20.4 && go mod tidy
Severity breakdown
CVSS 3.1 7.3
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
Weakness
CWE-74: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component ('Injection')
The product constructs all or part of a command, data structure, or record using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify how it is parsed or interpreted when it is sent to a downstream component.
How to prevent it
- Requirements: Programming languages and supporting technologies might be chosen which are not subject to these issues.
- Implementation: Utilize an appropriate mix of allowlist and denylist parsing to filter control-plane syntax from all input.
CWE-94: Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
The product constructs all or part of a code segment using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the syntax or behavior of the intended code segment.
How to prevent it
- Architecture and Design: Refactor your program so that you do not have to dynamically generate code.
- Architecture and Design: Run your code in a "jail" or similar sandbox environment that enforces strict boundaries between the process and the operating system. This may effectively restrict which code can be executed by your product. Examples include the Unix chroot jail and AppArmor. In general, managed code may provide some protection. This may not be a feasible solution, and it only limits the impact to the operating system; the rest of your application may still be subject to compromise. Be careful to avoid CWE-243 and other weaknesses related to jails.
- Implementation: Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does. When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, "boat" may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as "red" or "blue." Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code's environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright. To reduce the likelihood of code injection, use stringent allowlists that limit which constructs are allowed. If you are dynamically constructing code that invokes a function, then verifying that the input is alphanumeric might be insufficient. An attacker might still be able to reference a dangerous function that you did not intend to allow, such as system(), exec(), or exit().
- Testing: Use dynamic tools and techniques that interact with the product using large test suites with many diverse inputs, such as fuzz testing (fuzzing), robustness testing, and fault injection. The product's operation may slow down, but it should not become unstable, crash, or generate incorrect results.
- Operation: Run the code in an environment that performs automatic taint propagation and prevents any command execution that uses tainted variables, such as Perl's "-T" switch. This will force the program to perform validation steps that remove the taint, although you must be careful to correctly validate your inputs so that you do not accidentally mark dangerous inputs as untainted (see CWE-183 and CWE-184).
- Operation: Run the code in an environment that performs automatic taint propagation and prevents any command execution that uses tainted variables, such as Perl's "-T" switch. This will force the program to perform validation steps that remove the taint, although you must be careful to correctly validate your inputs so that you do not accidentally mark dangerous inputs as untainted (see CWE-183 and CWE-184).
- Implementation: For Python programs, it is frequently encouraged to use the ast.literal_eval() function instead of eval, since it is intentionally designed to avoid executing code. However, an adversary could still cause excessive memory or stack consumption via deeply nested structures [REF-1372], so the python documentation discourages use of ast.literal_eval() on untrusted data [REF-1373].
References
Advisories
Fixes and patches
Issue reports
Other links
Timeline
- Published
- Last updated by the source
- Latest EPSS score
Related advisories
| Advisory | Severity | Why it's related |
|---|---|---|
| GHSA-4374-p667-p6c8 HTTP/2 rapid reset can cause excessive work in net/http | High Known exploited | Also affects stdlib |
| CVE-2020-0601 Certificate validation bypass on Windows in crypto/x509 | High Known exploited | Also affects stdlib |
| RUSTSEC-2026-0382 Distrust compromised intermediate certificates in crypto/x509 | Medium | Also affects stdlib |
| GO-2026-6613 HTTP/1 server connection desynchronization after 2xx CONNECT response in net/http | High | Also affects stdlib |
| GO-2026-6609 Lack of limit on size of parsed Range headers in net/http | High | Also affects stdlib |
| GO-2026-6608 Memory limit bypass when parsing MIME headers in net/textproto, mime/multipart | High | Also affects stdlib |
| GO-2026-6607 Reject malformed ECH outer extension references in crypto/tls | High | Also affects stdlib |
| GO-2026-6604 Root.Mkdir(All) can follow junctions out of the root on Windows in os | Critical | Also affects stdlib |
Credits: Juho Nurminen of Mattermost
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