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Kirby CMS vulnerable to cross-site scripting (XSS) from links in KirbyTags and image blocks in the site frontend

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published May 19, 2026 in getkirby/kirby • Updated May 27, 2026

Package

composer getkirby/cms (Composer)

Affected versions

<= 4.9.0
>= 5.0.0, <= 5.4.0

Patched versions

4.9.1
5.4.1

Description

TL;DR

This vulnerability affects all Kirby sites that allow the use of the (link: …) KirbyTag, the link: parameter of the (image: …) KirbyTag, the built-in image block with a link or the HTML importer for blocks, when content is authored by users who may not be fully trusted. The attack requires an authenticated Panel user with update permission to any textarea or blocks field, or write access to content files through another vector (e.g. a frontend form or content sync pipeline). Another attack vector is the use of Html::a() or Html::link() with untrusted user input.

This vulnerability is of high severity for affected sites.

Kirby sites are not affected if none of the mentioned KirbyTags or block types are used, or if every user who can edit content is fully trusted. The attack only surfaces in the site frontend (i.e. in its templates). The Panel itself is unaffected and will not execute JavaScript that was injected into the textarea or blocks field content.

Introduction

Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of vulnerability that allows to execute any kind of JavaScript code inside the site frontend or Panel session of the same or other users. In the Panel, a harmful script can for example trigger requests to Kirby's API with the permissions of the victim.

In a stored XSS attack, the malicious payload is saved into the content data and has the potential to affect other users or site visitors.

Such vulnerabilities are critical if a consuming application might have potential attackers in its group of authenticated Panel users. They can escalate their privileges if they get access to the Panel session of an admin user. Depending on the site, other JavaScript-powered attacks are possible.

A specific class of stored XSS exploits the javascript: URI scheme in HTML <a href> attributes. When a browser processes a click action on a link with href="javascript:…", it executes the value as JavaScript in the origin of the current page. Because the site usually runs on the same origin as the Panel API, a successful exploit in the site frontend can give the attacker full control of the victim's Panel session.

Affected components

Kirby provides four first-party renderers that produce <a href="…"> output from editor-supplied field values:

  1. The (link: …) KirbyTag
  2. The link: parameter of the (image: …) KirbyTag, when the parameter does not resolve to a known file or 'self'
  3. The link field of the built-in image block
  4. The HTML importer for the blocks field (which accepted the same malicious input as the image block link field)

Impact

In affected releases, the underlying URL methods for these components did not filter out malicious URL values that resolve to script execution. While simple javascript: URLs were already deactivated by treating them as a relative path and prepending a single slash to the URL, the use of URLs of the format javascript://x%0A… bypasses this protection. The vbscript:, data:, livescript:, mocha: and jar: schemes are affected by the same underlying gap.

The vulnerability allows attackers to inject malicious links into content. The malicious links would then be rendered on the site frontend. If a site visitor or logged in user browsing the site would click such a link, the malicious script code would then be executed in the browser.

Patches

The problem has been patched in Kirby 4.9.1 and Kirby 5.4.1. Please update to one of these or a later version to fix the vulnerability.

In all of the mentioned releases, a new Url::hasDangerousScheme() method detects URI schemes that must never appear in a rendered href or src attribute (javascript:, vbscript:, livescript:, mocha:, jar:, data:).

Url::isAbsolute() now returns false for any URL that hasDangerousScheme() identifies as dangerous, so the URL component no longer passes these values through makeAbsolute() unchanged.

Html::link() now replaces the href with an empty string when a dangerous scheme is detected, so the rendered <a> tag links back to the current page rather than executing the injected script.

The HTML importer for blocks strips link targets with a dangerous scheme.

Due to the hardening in these underlying URL methods, the affected KirbyTags and block no longer allow dangerous schemes in link targets.

Credits

Kirby thanks @offset for responsibly reporting the identified issue.

References

@bastianallgeier bastianallgeier published to getkirby/kirby May 19, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 27, 2026
Reviewed May 27, 2026
Last updated May 27, 2026

Severity

High

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 None
Privileges Required Low
User interaction Active
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality High
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:N/PR:L/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

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.
(20th 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-2026-45368

GHSA ID

GHSA-qvjf-922g-pj44

Source code

Credits

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