CKEditor4 is an open source what-you-see-is-what-you-get HTML editor. A cross-site scripting vulnerability has been discovered affecting Iframe Dialog and Media Embed packages. The vulnerability may trigger a JavaScript code after fulfilling special conditions: using one of the affected packages on a web page with missing proper Content Security Policy configuration; initializing the editor on an element and using an element other than `<textarea>` as a base; and destroying the editor instance. This vulnerability might affect a small percentage of integrators that depend on dynamic editor initialization/destroy mechanism. A fix is available in CKEditor4 version 4.21.0. In some rare cases, a security fix may be considered a breaking change. Starting from version 4.21.0, the Iframe Dialog plugin applies the `sandbox` attribute by default, which restricts JavaScript code execution in the iframe element. To change this behavior, configure the `config.iframe_attributes` option. Also starting from version 4.21.0, the Media Embed plugin regenerates the entire content of the embed widget by default. To change this behavior, configure the `config.embed_keepOriginalContent` option. Those who choose to enable either of the more permissive options or who cannot upgrade to a patched version should properly configure Content Security Policy to avoid any potential security issues that may arise from embedding iframe elements on their web page.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-28439 is rated Low Risk (36.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.73%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026-06-15 | 0.54% | 0.73% | +0.18% |
| 2 | 2026-05-14 | 0.36% | 0.54% | +0.18% |
| 3 | 2026-04-09 | — | 0.36% | — |
Full EPSS history (44 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.7 | 3.1 | MEDIUM |
|
1.6 | 2.7 | [email protected] |
| 6.1 | 3.1 | MEDIUM |
|
2.8 | 2.7 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
not yet assigned | CVE-2023-28439 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (ckeditor, ckeditor3), 4 status rows across 2 suites (bookworm, bullseye): open 4. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-28439 |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2023-28439 medium priority: Ubuntu including 4 source packages (ckeditor, ckeditor3, ldap-account-manager, request-tracker4), 52 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 31, needs-triage 11, needed 4, not-affected 4, DNE 1, released 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-28439 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| ckeditor | ckeditor | >= 4.0, < 4.21.0 | cpe:2.3:a:ckeditor:ckeditor:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| fedoraproject | fedora | 37 | cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:37:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| fedoraproject | fedora | 38 | cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:38:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| fedoraproject | fedora | 39 | cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:39:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://ckeditor.com/cke4/addon/embed | Product |
| https://ckeditor.com/cke4/addon/iframe | Product |
| https://github.com/ckeditor/ckeditor4/security/advisories/GHSA-vh5c-xwqv-cv9g | Vendor Advisory |
| https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/GWKG2VCPJNETVCDTXU4X6FQ2PO6XCNGN/ | Mailing List Third Party Advisory |
| https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/L4ODGOW6PYVOXHQSMWJBOCE6DXWAI33W/ | Mailing List Third Party Advisory |
| https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/VCYKD3JZWWA3ESOZG4PHJJEXT4EYIUIQ/ | Mailing List |