XSS in the `of` option of the `.position()` util in jquery-ui

CVE-2021-41184 → View on GitHub ↗ View on CVE.org ↗ View on NVD ↗

Description

Impact

Accepting the value of the of option of the .position() util from untrusted sources may execute untrusted code. For example, invoking the following code:

$( "#element" ).position( {
    my: "left top",
    at: "right bottom",
    of: "<img onerror='doEvilThing()' src='/404' />",
    collision: "none"
} );

will call the doEvilThing() function.

Patches

The issue is fixed in jQuery UI 1.13.0. Any string value passed to the of option is now treated as a CSS selector.

Workarounds

A workaround is to not accept the value of the of option from untrusted sources.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, search for a relevant issue in the jQuery UI repo. If you don't find an answer, open a new issue.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
medium
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2021-10-26 14:55:12 UTC
Updated
2025-11-04 19:36:07 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2021-10-25 22:06:43 UTC
NVD published
2021-10-26

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
25.37% 96.10%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
6.5 3.1 —
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/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:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

Identifiers

Type Value
GHSA GHSA-gpqq-952q-5327 ↗
CVE CVE-2021-41184 ↗

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-79 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Credits

  • esbena (analyst)
  • A-Fitz-Nelnet (analyst)

Affected packages (4)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
npm jquery-ui < 1.13.0 1.13.0 —
maven org.webjars.npm:jquery-ui < 1.13.0 1.13.0 —
nuget jQuery.UI.Combined < 1.13.0 1.13.0 —
rubygems jquery-ui-rails < 7.0.0 7.0.0 —

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence