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beets has a Cross-site Scripting vulnerability

Moderate severity GitHub Reviewed Published Apr 20, 2026 in beetbox/beets • Updated May 8, 2026

Package

pip beets (pip)

Affected versions

< 2.10.0

Patched versions

2.10.0

Description

During code logic analyis, an area that may lead to unintended behavior under specific conditions was discovered.

Overview

  • Verified Version: 80cd21554124da07d17a4f962c7d770a4f70d0f2
  • Vulnerability Type: Stored XSS
  • Affected Location: beetsplug/web/templates/index.html:42
  • Trigger Scenario: Metadata fields such as title, lyrics, or comments are rendered with raw template interpolation and inserted into DOM via .html(...).

Root Cause

The bundled web UI uses Underscore template interpolation mode <%= ... %> for untrusted metadata fields. In this runtime, <%= ... %> is raw insertion and HTML escaping is only performed by <%- ... %>. Rendered output is then inserted with .html(...), allowing attacker-controlled markup to become active DOM.

Source-to-Sink Chain

  1. Source (attacker-controlled input)
  • Item metadata values (for example title, lyrics, comments) can contain attacker HTML payload.
  1. Data flow
  • Templates in beetsplug/web/templates/index.html:42-46,87-91 render metadata with <%= ... %>.
  • Underscore runtime defines <%= ... %> as raw interpolation (beetsplug/web/static/underscore.js:890-907).
  1. Sink (security-sensitive action)
  • Frontend inserts rendered template output into DOM via $(this.el).html(this.template(this.model.toJSON())); in beetsplug/web/static/beets.js:182,208,220.

Exploitation Preconditions

  1. Victim opens the web UI page that renders attacker-controlled metadata.
  2. Metadata includes executable HTML/JS payload.

Risk

Stored payload executes in the web UI context and can perform actions available to that origin.

Impact

Attacker can run arbitrary JavaScript in the victim browser, exfiltrate viewable data, and perform UI-driven actions as the victim session.

Remediation

  1. Replace raw interpolation <%= ... %> with escaped output <%- ... %> for untrusted fields.
  2. Avoid .html(...) for untrusted template output; use text-safe rendering.
  3. Sanitize metadata values on ingest and before rendering, including attribute contexts.

References

@snejus snejus published to beetbox/beets Apr 20, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Apr 29, 2026
Reviewed Apr 29, 2026
Published by the National Vulnerability Database May 4, 2026
Last updated May 8, 2026

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity Low
Attack Requirements Present
Privileges Required None
User interaction Passive
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality None
Integrity High
Availability None
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality None
Integrity None
Availability None

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector: This metric reflects the context by which vulnerability exploitation is possible. This metric value (and consequently the resulting severity) will be larger the more remote (logically, and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerable system. The assumption is that the number of potential attackers for a vulnerability that could be exploited from across a network is larger than the number of potential attackers that could exploit a vulnerability requiring physical access to a device, and therefore warrants a greater severity.
Attack Complexity: This metric captures measurable actions that must be taken by the attacker to actively evade or circumvent existing built-in security-enhancing conditions in order to obtain a working exploit. These are conditions whose primary purpose is to increase security and/or increase exploit engineering complexity. A vulnerability exploitable without a target-specific variable has a lower complexity than a vulnerability that would require non-trivial customization. This metric is meant to capture security mechanisms utilized by the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: This metric captures the prerequisite deployment and execution conditions or variables of the vulnerable system that enable the attack. These differ from security-enhancing techniques/technologies (ref Attack Complexity) as the primary purpose of these conditions is not to explicitly mitigate attacks, but rather, emerge naturally as a consequence of the deployment and execution of the vulnerable system.
Privileges Required: This metric describes the level of privileges an attacker must possess prior to successfully exploiting the vulnerability. The method by which the attacker obtains privileged credentials prior to the attack (e.g., free trial accounts), is outside the scope of this metric. Generally, self-service provisioned accounts do not constitute a privilege requirement if the attacker can grant themselves privileges as part of the attack.
User interaction: This metric captures the requirement for a human user, other than the attacker, to participate in the successful compromise of the vulnerable system. This metric determines whether the vulnerability can be exploited solely at the will of the attacker, or whether a separate user (or user-initiated process) must participate in some manner.
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the VULNERABLE SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(19th percentile)

Weaknesses

Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-42052

GHSA ID

GHSA-3gxm-wfjx-m847

Source code

Credits

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