CVE-2025-61261
📋 TL;DR
A reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability in CKEditor v46.1.0 and Angular v18.0.0 allows attackers to inject malicious scripts that execute in users' browsers when they visit specially crafted URLs. This affects web applications using these specific versions of CKEditor and Angular that don't have proper input sanitization.
💻 Affected Systems
- CKEditor
- Angular
📦 What is this software?
Angular by Angular
Ckeditor5 by Ckeditor
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could steal user session cookies, perform actions as authenticated users, redirect to malicious sites, or install malware via browser exploitation.
Likely Case
Session hijacking, credential theft, or defacement of web pages through injected content.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper Content Security Policy headers and input validation in place.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (clicking malicious link) but no authentication. Public proof-of-concept available in security advisories.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: CKEditor v46.1.1 or later, Angular v18.0.1 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/ckeditor/ckeditor5/releases/tag/v46.1.0
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Update CKEditor to v46.1.1 or later. 2. Update Angular to v18.0.1 or later. 3. Test application functionality after updates. 4. Deploy updated application.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement Content Security Policy
allAdd strict CSP headers to prevent script execution from untrusted sources
Content-Security-Policy: script-src 'self'
Input Sanitization
allImplement server-side input validation and output encoding for all user inputs
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement WAF rules to block XSS payload patterns
- Disable affected CKEditor features or use alternative editor components
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check package.json or similar dependency files for CKEditor v46.1.0 and Angular v18.0.0Check Version:
npm list ckeditor5 angularVerify Fix Applied:
Verify CKEditor version is >=46.1.1 and Angular version is >=18.0.1📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual long URLs with script tags
- Multiple failed requests with XSS payload patterns
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing script tags or javascript: URIs in query parameters
SIEM Query:
source="web_server" AND (uri="*<script>*" OR uri="*javascript:*")