Citizen Short Description stored XSS vulnerability through wikitext

Exploitation

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

CVSS

8.6 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L

EPSS

• CVE-2025-53369: 0.34% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 27.68 (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 Short descriptions are not properly sanitized by the ShortDescription before being inserted as HTML using mw.util.addSubtitle, allowing any user to insert arbitrary HTML into the DOM by editing a page. Details The description provided by the user via the {{SHORTDESC:}} parser function is insufficiently sanitized by the sanitize() function, as html entities are decoded: https://github.com/StarCitizenTools/mediawiki-extensions-ShortDescription/blob/7244b1e8b5cb6dbd7e546c5be7fed8a56e33d065/includes/Hooks/ParserHooks.php#L147-L159 Via JS, the short description is then passed to mw.util.addSubtitle, which inserts it as raw HTML: https://github.com/StarCitizenTools/mediawiki-extensions-ShortDescription/blob/7244b1e8b5cb6dbd7e546c5be7fed8a56e33d065/modules/ext.shortDescription.js#L8 https://github.com/wikimedia/mediawiki/blob/96372101b3c579d9992e8a31a3ccd90a937cac47/resources/src/mediawiki.util/util.js#L552-L563 PoC 1. Enable ShortDescription 2. Make sure…

Published by the source

3 Jul 2025, 21:38 UTC

Last modified by the source

3 Jul 2025, 21:38 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 14:34 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-p85q-mww9-gwqf

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2025-53369

Advisory: Citizen Short Description stored XSS vulnerability through wikitext
IDs: CVE-2025-53369, GHSA-p85q-mww9-gwqf
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2025-53369 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 14:34 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: High (CVSS 8.6)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: starcitizentools/short-description 4.0.1. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Packagist starcitizentools/short-description: affected >= 4.0.0, < 4.0.1; fixed in 4.0.1

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Packagist starcitizentools/short-description: 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 starcitizentools/short-description.
- 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-p85q-mww9-gwqf (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-p85q-mww9-gwqf lists affected ranges: Packagist starcitizentools/short-description >=4.0.0 <4.0.1)

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