HtmlUnit vulnerable to Remote Code Execution (RCE) via XSTL
Priority HIGH 82CWE-94Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Code execution
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 5 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-94.
Summary
HtmlUnit is a GUI-less browser for Java programs. HtmlUnit is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution (RCE) via XSTL, when browsing the attacker’s webpage. This vulnerability has been patched in version 3.9.0
Why it matters now
Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.02358 83rd percentileScored 2026-11-07
Public exploit Yes 1 exploit referenceTagged by NVD
Fix Partial htmlunit (HtmlUnit): 3.9.0org.htmlunit:htmlunit (Maven): 3.9.0Red Hat: 5 without a fix
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HtmlUnit | htmlunit | before 3.9.0 | 3.9.0 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | org.htmlunit:htmlunit (Maven) | before 3.9.0 | 3.9.0 | Patch available | GHSA-37vq-hr2f-g7h7 |
- htmlunit VendorHtmlUnit Affected before 3.9.0 Fixed in 3.9.0 Patch available CNA
- org.htmlunit:htmlunit (Maven) Vendor— Affected before 3.9.0 Fixed in 3.9.0 Patch available GHSA-37vq-hr2f-g7h7
Remediation
- Fix · CNA htmlunit (HtmlUnit) Fixed in 3.9.0
- Fix · GHSA-37vq-hr2f-g7h7 org.htmlunit:htmlunit (Maven) Fixed in 3.9.0 Advisory →
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Migration Toolkit for Applications 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Migration Toolkit for Runtimes | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Fuse 7 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat JBoss Fuse 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
Not affected: 13 products
- Red Hat Build of Keycloak
- Red Hat Data Grid 8
- Red Hat Decision Manager 7
- Red Hat Integration Camel K 1
- Red Hat Integration Camel Quarkus 2
- Red Hat JBoss Data Grid 7
- Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7
- Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 8
- Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform Expansion Pack
- Red Hat Process Automation 7
- Red Hat Single Sign-On 7
- Red Hat build of Quarkus
- streams for Apache Kafka
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-49093
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-37vq-hr2f-g7h7
References
More Htmlunit vulnerabilities
- TI-2023-11344 Code injection in net.sourceforge.htmlunit:htmlunit CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2020-04499 Code injection in HtmlUnit CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.1
- TI-2022-11120 Certain Neko-related HTML parsers allow a denial of service via crafted Processing… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2023-02621 Denial of service in HtmlUnit CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2022-12000 HtmlUnit NekoHtml Parser before 2.61.0 suffers from a denial of service vulnerability. CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2023-49093 · CVE Program
- CVE-2023-49093 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-37vq-hr2f-g7h7 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2023-49093 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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