CVE-2019-17022: XSS

Published Jan 7, 2020
·
Updated

Last updated 25 August 2025

Other sources

When pasting a &lt;style&gt; tag from the clipboard into a rich text editor, the CSS sanitizer does not escape &lt; and &gt; characters. Because the resulting string is pasted directly into the text node of the element this does not result in a direct injection into the webpage; however, if a webpage subsequently copies the node's innerHTML, assigning it to another innerHTML, this would result in an XSS vulnerability. Two WYSIWYG editors were identified with this behavior, more may exist. This vulnerability affects Firefox ESR < 68.4 and Firefox < 72.

Launchpad

When pasting a <style> tag from the clipboard into a rich text editor, the CSS sanitizer does not escape < and > characters. Because the resulting string is pasted directly into the text node of the element this does not result in a direct injection into the webpage; however, if a webpage subsequently copies the node's innerHTML, assigning it to another innerHTML, this would result in an XSS vulnerability. Two WYSIWYG editors were identified with this behavior, more may exist.

External Reference:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2020-02/#CVE-2019-17022

Red Hat

When pasting a <style> tag from the clipboard into a rich text editor, the CSS sanitizer does not escape < and > characters. Because the resulting string is pasted directly into the text node of the element this does not result in a direct injection into the webpage; however, if a webpage subsequently copies the node's innerHTML, assigning it to another innerHTML, this would result in an XSS vulnerability. Two WYSIWYG editors were identified with this behavior, more may exist.

Mozilla

Affected Software

25 affected componentsFixes available
redhat/firefox<68.4
68.4
redhat/thunderbird<68.4.1
68.4.1
Mozilla Thunderbird<68.4.1
68.4.1
Mozilla Firefox<72
72
Mozilla Firefox ESR<68.4
68.4
Mozilla Firefox<72.0
Mozilla Firefox ESR<68.4
Canonical Ubuntu Linux=16.04
Canonical Ubuntu Linux=18.04
Canonical Ubuntu Linux=19.04
Canonical Ubuntu Linux=19.10
Debian Debian Linux=8.0
Debian Debian Linux=9.0
Debian Debian Linux=10.0
redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop=6.0
redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop=7.0
redhat Enterprise Linux Server=6.0
redhat Enterprise Linux Server=7.0
redhat Enterprise Linux Server Aus=7.7
redhat Enterprise Linux Server Tus=7.7
redhat Enterprise Linux Workstation=6.0
redhat Enterprise Linux Workstation=7.0
debian/firefox
149.0.2-1
debian/firefox-esr
115.14.0esr-1~deb11u1140.9.1esr-1~deb11u1128.14.0esr-1~deb12u1140.9.1esr-1~deb12u1140.8.0esr-1~deb13u1140.9.1esr-1~deb13u1140.9.1esr-1
debian/thunderbird
1:115.12.0-1~deb11u11:140.9.1esr-1~deb11u11:140.6.0esr-1~deb12u11:140.9.1esr-1~deb12u11:140.8.0esr-1~deb13u11:140.9.1esr-1~deb13u11:140.9.0esr-11:140.9.1esr-1

Event History

Jan 7, 2020
CVE Published
via Mozilla·12:00 AM
Jan 8, 2020
CVE Published
via MITRE·09:30 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·09:30 PM
DescriptionWeakness
Jan 11, 2024
Data Sourced
via Launchpad·11:22 PM
Description
Feb 20, 2026
Data Sourced
via Ubuntu·10:29 PM
RemedyDescriptionSeverityAffected Software
Apr 14, 2026
Data Sourced
via Debian·11:04 PM
DescriptionAffected Software

Parent advisories

This vulnerability appears in the following advisories.

Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is CVE-2019-17022?

CVE-2019-17022 is a vulnerability in Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird that allows the execution of arbitrary CSS code.

2

How does CVE-2019-17022 affect Mozilla Firefox ESR?

CVE-2019-17022 affects Mozilla Firefox ESR version 68.4, allowing the execution of arbitrary CSS code when pasting a <style> tag from the clipboard into a rich text editor.

3

How does CVE-2019-17022 affect Mozilla Thunderbird?

CVE-2019-17022 affects Mozilla Thunderbird version 68.4.1, allowing the execution of arbitrary CSS code when pasting a <style> tag from the clipboard into a rich text editor.

4

How does CVE-2019-17022 affect Mozilla Firefox?

CVE-2019-17022 affects Mozilla Firefox version up to 72, allowing the execution of arbitrary CSS code when pasting a <style> tag from the clipboard into a rich text editor.

5

How severe is CVE-2019-17022?

CVE-2019-17022 has a severity rating of medium (4 out of 10).

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