CVE-2022-36033: jsoup may not sanitize Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attempts if SafeList.preserveRelativeLinks is enabled

Severity: medium (CVSS 6.1 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.6% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2022-08-29 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-79

Description

jsoup is a Java HTML parser, built for HTML editing, cleaning, scraping, and cross-site scripting (XSS) safety. jsoup may incorrectly sanitize HTML including `javascript:` URL expressions, which could allow XSS attacks when a reader subsequently clicks that link. If the non-default `SafeList.preserveRelativeLinks` option is enabled, HTML including `javascript:` URLs that have been crafted with control characters will not be sanitized. If the site that this HTML is published on does not set a Content Security Policy, an XSS attack is then possible. This issue is patched in jsoup 1.15.3. Users should upgrade to this version. Additionally, as the unsanitized input may have been persisted, old content should be cleaned again using the updated version. To remediate this issue without immediately upgrading: - disable `SafeList.preserveRelativeLinks`, which will rewrite input URLs as absolute URLs - ensure an appropriate [Content Security Policy](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/CSP) is defined. (This should be used regardless of upgrading, as a defence-in-depth best practice.)

Affected products

Jsoup: before 1.15.3 — fixed in 1.15.3
NetApp Management Services For Element Software: all versions
NetApp Management Services For Netapp Hci: all versions
NetApp OnCommand Workflow Automation: all versions

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Jsoup 1.15.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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