Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) in @knight-lab/timelinejs (CVE-2020-15092)
Summary
Cross-site scripting in @knight-lab/timelinejs (CVE-2020-15092). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. Mitigation: upgrade to 3.7.0 or later.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
Impact
TimelineJS renders some user data as HTML. An attacker could implement an XSS exploit with maliciously crafted content in a number of data fields. This risk is present whether the source data for the timeline is stored on Google Sheets or in a JSON configuration file.
Most TimelineJS users configure their timeline with a Google Sheets document. Those users are exposed to this vulnerability if they grant write access to the document to a malicious inside attacker, if the access of a trusted user is compromised, or if they grant public write access to the document.
Some TimelineJS users configure their timeline with a JSON document. Those users are exposed to this vulnerability if they grant write access to the document to a malicious inside attacker, if the access of a trusted user is compromised, or if write access to the system hosting that document is otherwise compromised.
Although the vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.2, this vulnerability has a severity of Moderate due to the likeliness of exploitation.
Patches
Version 3.7.0 of TimelineJS addresses this in two ways.
- For content which is intended to support limited HTML markup for styling and linking, that content is "sanitized" before being added to the DOM.
- For content intended for simple text display, all markup is stripped.
Very few users of TimelineJS actually install the TimelineJS code…
Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD GitHub Advisory OSV
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2020-15092 has been found in @knight-lab/timelinejs.
Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
What to do: upgrade @knight-lab/timelinejs to 3.7.0 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "@knight-lab/timelinejs CVE-2020-15092" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2020-15092 (@knight-lab/timelinejs) — CWE-79
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / no user interaction
Patched: 3.7.0 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
Cross-site scripting (XSS) (CWE-79) exists in @knight-lab/timelinejs.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of @knight-lab/timelinejs.
Severity: ?. Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Update to 3.7.0.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r '@knight-lab/timelinejs' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
grep -r '@knight-lab/timelinejs' . | grep -v node_modulesリポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で
@knight-lab/timelinejsを grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。 -
2Apply patch patch
Upgrade @knight-lab/timelinejs to 3.7.0ステージング環境で 3.7.0 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
-
3Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Affected packages
References
- advisory nvd.nist.gov
- web github.com
- web knightlab.northwestern.edu
- web knightlab.northwestern.edu