CVE-2024-43407 | Code Snippet GeSHi plugin has reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability

CKEditor4 is an open source what-you-see-is-what-you-get HTML editor. A potential vulnerability has been discovered in CKEditor 4 Code Snippet GeSHi plugin. The vulnerability allowed a reflected XSS attack by exploiting a flaw in the GeSHi syntax highlighter library hosted by the victim. The GeSHi library was included as a vendor dependency in CKEditor 4 source files. In a specific scenario, an attacker could craft a malicious script that could be executed by sending a request to the GeSHi library hosted on a PHP web server. The GeSHi library is no longer actively maintained. Due to the lack of ongoing support and updates, potential security vulnerabilities have been identified with its continued use. To mitigate these risks and enhance the overall security of the CKEditor 4, we have decided to completely remove the GeSHi library as a dependency. This change aims to maintain a secure environment and reduce the risk of any security incidents related to outdated or unsupported software. The fix is be available in version 4.25.0-lts.

Published: 2024-08-21 Last update: 2024-08-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2024-43407 is rated Low Risk (34.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.42%). 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.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2024-43407

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 1.85% 0.42% -1.42%
2 2026-05-07 1.85% 1.85% -0.00%
3 2026-01-10 — 1.85% —

Full EPSS history (16 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-43407

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.1 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 2.7 [email protected]
6.1 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 2.7 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-43407

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2024-43407

GHSA-7r32-vfj5-c2jv · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: npm — Code Snippet GeSHi plugin in CKEditor 4 has reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-43407

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2024-43407 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (ckeditor), 2 status rows across 2 suites (bookworm, bullseye): open 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2024-43407
ubuntu medium CVE-2024-43407 medium priority: Ubuntu including 5 source packages (ckeditor, ckeditor3, geshi, ldap-account-manager, request-tracker4), 44 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, upstream, xenial): not-affected 33, needs-triage 7, ignored 2, DNE 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-43407

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-43407

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
ckeditor ckeditor >= 4.0, < 4.25.0 cpe:2.3:a:ckeditor:ckeditor:*:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*

References for CVE-2024-43407

cvelogic Threat Intelligence