CVE-2023-1932
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows attackers to bypass Hibernate Validator's SafeHtml validation by omitting tag endings with less-than characters. This enables HTML injection and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks in applications using the affected validator. Any Java application using Hibernate Validator with SafeHtml constraints is potentially affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Hibernate Validator
📦 What is this software?
Jboss Enterprise Application Platform by Redhat
View all CVEs affecting Jboss Enterprise Application Platform →
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Full XSS compromise allowing session hijacking, credential theft, or complete application takeover through malicious script execution in user browsers.
Likely Case
Limited XSS attacks leading to session hijacking, defacement, or data exfiltration from users interacting with malicious content.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact if proper output encoding, Content Security Policies, and additional validation layers are implemented.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user input that bypasses the validator, typically through web forms or API endpoints accepting HTML content.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 6.2.5.Final or 7.0.5.Final
Vendor Advisory: https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-1932
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update Hibernate Validator dependency to version 6.2.5.Final or 7.0.5.Final. 2. Update pom.xml or build.gradle with new version. 3. Rebuild and redeploy application. 4. Restart application server.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement Additional Input Validation
allAdd custom validation to sanitize HTML input before SafeHtml validation
Disable SafeHtml Validator
allRemove or replace SafeHtml constraints with alternative validation methods
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to mitigate XSS impact
- Apply output encoding on all user-controlled data before rendering in HTML context
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Hibernate Validator version in dependencies. If using SafeHtml constraints and version is below 6.2.5.Final (for 6.x) or 7.0.5.Final (for 7.x), you are vulnerable.Check Version:
mvn dependency:tree | grep hibernate-validator OR gradle dependencies | grep hibernate-validatorVerify Fix Applied:
Verify Hibernate Validator version is 6.2.5.Final or higher (for 6.x) or 7.0.5.Final or higher (for 7.x) after update.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual HTML patterns in input validation logs
- Failed SafeHtml validation attempts with malformed tags
Network Indicators:
- HTML payloads with unclosed tags ending in < character
- Suspicious script tags in HTTP requests
SIEM Query:
source="web_logs" AND (message="*<script*" OR message="*<img*" OR message="*onerror*") AND NOT message="*</*"