rails-html-sanitize has XSS vulnerability with certain configurations

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS 4.0

2.3 · CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N · score source

EPSS

• CVE-2024-53985: 0.60% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 48.62 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Summary There is a possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer 1.6.0 when used with Rails = 7.1.0 and Nokogiri < 1.15.7, or 1.16.x < 1.16.8. Versions affected: 1.6.0 Not affected: < 1.6.0 Fixed versions: 1.6.1 Please note that the fix in v1.6.1 is to update the dependency on Nokogiri to 1.15.7 or = 1.16.8. Impact A possible XSS vulnerability with certain configurations of Rails::HTML::Sanitizer may allow an attacker to inject content if HTML5 sanitization is enabled and the application developer has overridden the sanitizer's allowed tags in either of the following ways: allow both "math" and "style" elements or allow both "svg" and "style" elements Code is only impacted if Rails is configured to use HTML5 sanitization, please see documentation for config.actionview.sanitizervendor and config.actiontext.sanitizervendor for more information on these configuration options. Code is only impacted if allowed tags are being overridden. Applications may…

Published by the source

2 Dec 2024, 21:48 UTC

Last modified by the source

3 Dec 2024, 18:50 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 15:48 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-w8gc-x259-rc7x

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2024-53985

Advisory: rails-html-sanitize has XSS vulnerability with certain configurations
IDs: CVE-2024-53985, GHSA-w8gc-x259-rc7x
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2024-53985 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 15:48 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Low (CVSS 2.3)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: rails-html-sanitizer 1.6.1. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- RubyGems rails-html-sanitizer: affected >= 1.6.0, <= 1.6.0; fixed in 1.6.1

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- RubyGems rails-html-sanitizer: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on rails-html-sanitizer.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-w8gc-x259-rc7x (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-w8gc-x259-rc7x lists affected ranges: RubyGems rails-html-sanitizer >=1.6.0 <=1.6.0)

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