CVE-2022-39350
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · unedited@dependencytrack/frontend is a Single Page Application (SPA) used in Dependency-Track, an open source Component Analysis platform that allows organizations to identify and reduce risk in the software supply chain. Due to the common practice of providing vulnerability details in markdown format, the Dependency-Track frontend renders them using the JavaScript library Showdown. Showdown does not have any XSS countermeasures built in, and versions before 4.6.1 of the Dependency-Track frontend did not encode or sanitize Showdown's output. This made it possible for arbitrary JavaScript included in vulnerability details via HTML attributes to be executed in context of the frontend. Actors with the `VULNERABILITY_MANAGEMENT` permission can exploit this weakness by creating or editing a custom vulnerability and providing XSS payloads in any of the following fields: Description, Details, Recommendation, or References. The payload will be executed for users with the `VIEW_PORTFOLIO` permission when browsing to the modified vulnerability's page. Alternatively, malicious JavaScript could be introduced via any of the vulnerability databases mirrored by Dependency-Track. However, this attack vector is highly unlikely, and the maintainers of Dependency-Track are not aware of any occurrence of this happening. Note that the `Vulnerability Details` element of the `Audit Vulnerabilities` tab in the project view is not affected. The issue has been fixed in frontend version 4.6.1.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceStored XSS vulnerability in Dependency-Track frontend versions before 4.6.1. The Showdown library used to render markdown in vulnerability details (Description, Details, Recommendation, References fields) lacks XSS protection, allowing arbitrary JavaScript execution via HTML attributes. Attackers with VULNERABILITY_MANAGEMENT permission can inject payloads that execute for users with VIEW_PORTFOLIO permission.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data< 4.6.1CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed frontend versionAccess the Dependency-Track web interface and check the footer or about page for the version number, or query the API endpoint /api/version if availableAffected if The version displayed is any version before 4.6.1 (e.g., 4.6.0, 4.5.x, etc.)
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Verify Showdown library is rendering markdownInspect the vulnerability detail pages in the frontend (navigate to any vulnerability in the portfolio) and check if the Description, Details, Recommendation, or References fields are rendered using markdownAffected if These fields render markdown content using the Showdown library without visible sanitization/encoding
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Confirm user has VIEW_PORTFOLIO permissionCheck the user account settings or admin panel to determine if the account being tested has VIEW_PORTFOLIO permission enabledAffected if The user account has VIEW_PORTFOLIO permission assigned, which would cause them to execute injected payloads
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Check if attacker has VULNERABILITY_MANAGEMENT permissionIn a separate test account, verify if VULNERABILITY_MANAGEMENT permission is granted through the administration or permissions settingsAffected if An account with VULNERABILITY_MANAGEMENT permission can create or modify vulnerability entries containing malicious payloads
Your environment is affected if the Dependency-Track frontend version is below 4.6.1 AND the Showdown library renders markdown in vulnerability detail fields to users with VIEW_PORTFOLIO permission while attackers have VULNERABILITY_MANAGEMENT permission.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped4.6.1
Upgrade frontend to version 4.6.1 or later, which includes proper encoding/sanitization of Showdown output.
4.6.1
- Upgrade the Dependency-Track Frontend to version 4.6.1 or later
- Verify that the frontend has been successfully upgraded by checking the version number in the application UI or system information
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-39350 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-39350 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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