medium

GHSA-9wjq-cp2p-hrgf

RubyGems · loofah

Summary

Loofah: SVG `href` attribute bypasses local-reference restriction

Severity
medium
CVSS
4.7
CWE
CWE-79
Published
2026-07-21
Updated
2026-07-21

Advisory details

Summary

Loofah's HTML5 sanitizer restricted only the xlink:href attribute on certain SVG elements to local, same-document references. Browsers also accept a plain href attribute as an alternative to the deprecated xlink:href per the SVG 2 spec, but Loofah did not apply the same restriction to it, allowing those elements to reference arbitrary external documents.

Impact

SVG <use> can load and render external SVG content by reference. If the referenced external SVG is same-origin and contains scripts or other dangerous content, it could execute in the context of the sanitized document. <feImage> can load external images, which can be used for tracking. Modern browsers restrict cross-origin <use> fetches, which limits but does not eliminate the risk.

Applications that sanitize user-supplied SVG (directly, or as part of HTML) with Loofah's default allowlist are affected.

Mitigation

Upgrade to Loofah >= 2.25.2.

Credit

Found by the maintainer, Mike Dalessio, during a security audit.

References

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Sources: CISA KEV (public domain), OSV.dev & GitHub Advisory Database (CC-BY-4.0), FIRST EPSS, NVD/CWE (public domain). Served live from the Stateward advisory database.