CVE-2025-11844: XPath Injection in Hugging Face Smolagents search_item_ctrl_f Function

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.4 v3.0)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2025-10-22 · updated 2026-10-08
Weakness: CWE-643

Description

Hugging Face Smolagents version 1.20.0 contains an XPath injection vulnerability in the search_item_ctrl_f function located in src/smolagents/vision_web_browser.py. The function constructs an XPath query by directly concatenating user-supplied input into the XPath expression without proper sanitization or escaping. This allows an attacker to inject malicious XPath syntax that can alter the intended query logic. The vulnerability enables attackers to bypass search filters, access unintended DOM elements, and disrupt web automation workflows. This can lead to information disclosure, manipulation of AI agent interactions, and compromise the reliability of automated web tasks. The issue is fixed in version 1.22.0.

Affected products

huggingface smolagents: from 1.20.0 before 1.22.0 — fixed in 1.22.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: huggingface smolagents 1.22.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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