Cross-site scripting in Apache Wicket SmartLinkLabel components
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Active
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Impact type
- Cross-site scripting
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · None
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-79.
Summary
Apache Wicket from 8.0.0 through 8.19.0, from 9.0.0 through 9.24.0 and from 10.0.0 through 10.11.0 is affected. The components SmartLinkLabel and SmartLinkMultiLineLabel turn any URL in displayed text into a link without restricting its scheme (CWE-79). An attacker who supplies such text can make a script-executing URL run script in the session of a user who clicks the link. The default Content-Security-Policy on 9.x and 10.x blocks it, while 8.x has no such policy.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-04
Description from the CNA
Improper neutralization of input during web page generation in Apache Wicket. org.apache.wicket.extensions.markup.html.basic.SmartLinkLabel and org.apache.wicket.extensions.markup.html.basic.SmartLinkMultiLineLabel display a text value and turn any URL they find in it into a hyperlink. Both escape the model value and then hand the escaped text to org.apache.wicket.extensions.markup.html.basic.DefaultLinkParser, which searches it for anything of the form scheme://rest and wraps each match in an anchor whose href is the matched text, copied in as it is. The pattern accepts any scheme, and there is no list of permitted schemes anywhere on the path. A text value naming a scheme that executes script therefore becomes an anchor that executes it, in the application's origin and in the reader's own session, when the reader clicks the link. Rendering the page is not enough on its own; the link has to be activated. Escaping does not prevent this and is not the issue: the characters the payload needs are all valid in a URL and are ones that org.apache.wicket.util.string.Strings#escapeMarkup() leaves alone, and the value ends up in a URL rather than in element text, which is a context that escaping model data does not make safe. An application is affected where it renders text it received through either of these two components. That is what they are for: they exist to linkify email addresses and web URLs found in the data an application is displaying, so untrusted input is the purpose of the feature rather than a misuse of it, and no unusual configuration is involved. No other component uses this parser, and an application that uses neither SmartLinkLabel nor SmartLinkMultiLineLabel is not affected. On 9.x and 10.x the Content-Security-Policy Wicket sends by default admits script only from a source carrying a per-response nonce, and a URL whose scheme executes script cannot carry one, so that default policy stops the script from running. This is a property of the default policy and not of these components. An application that has weakened or disabled its Content-Security-Policy, for this or for any unrelated reason, is affected in full. Wicket 8.x has no Content-Security-Policy support at all and is affected as it stands. This issue affects Apache Wicket: from 8.0.0 through 8.19.0, from 9.0.0 through 9.24.0, from 10.0.0 through 10.11.0. Users of Apache Wicket 7.x or older, which are no longer supported, should upgrade to a supported version. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 8.20.0, 9.25.0 or 10.12.0, which fix the issue.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
Upgrade to Apache Wicket 8.20.0, 9.25.0 or 10.12.0, the fixed versions for each supported branch.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-04
Timeline
- 2026-11-01 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-83539
- 2026-11-02 Alias added: GHSA-f448-r48f-qjch
- 2026-11-04 Priority changed: MEDIUM → LOW
- 2026-11-06 CISA SSVC decision points changed
References
More Apache vulnerabilities
- TI-2025-18529 Apache Tomcat: Potential RCE and/or information disclosure and/or information corruption with partial PUT KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 10.0
- TI-2024-30292 Apache OFBiz: Confused controller-view authorization logic (forced browsing) KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2024-26062 Apache OFBiz: Unauthenticated endpoint could allow execution of screen rendering code KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2024-21190 Apache OFBiz: Path traversal leading to RCE KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2024-18186 Apache HugeGraph-Server: Command execution in gremlin KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2023-25106 Deserialization of untrusted data in Apache ActiveMQ KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 10.0
Sources
- CVE-2026-83539 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-83539 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-f448-r48f-qjch · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences