GitHub Advisoryadvisory · RubyGems

GHSA-9wjq-cp2p-hrgf Loofah: SVG `href` attribute bypasses local-reference restriction

MEDIUM Published 2026-07-21 Modified 2026-08-12 Official page ↗
Aliases
CVE-2026-73490
Ecosystem
RubyGems
Packages
loofah
Severity
Moderate
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Weaknesses
CWE-79
Reviewed
2026-07-21

Affected packages

• RubyGems loofah: < 2.25.2 → fixed in 2.25.2

Description

Summary Loofah's HTML5 sanitizer restricted only the `xlink:href` attribute on certain SVG elements to local, same-document references. Browsers also accept a plain `href` attribute as an alternative to the deprecated `xlink:href` per the SVG 2 spec, but Loofah did not apply the same restriction to it, allowing those elements to reference arbitrary external documents. Impact SVG `` can load and render external SVG content by reference. If the referenced external SVG is same-origin and contains scripts or other dangerous content, it could execute in the context of the sanitized document. `` can load external images, which can be used for tracking. Modern browsers restrict cross-origin `` fetches, which limits but does not eliminate the risk. Applications that sanitize user-supplied SVG (directly, or as part of HTML) with Loofah's default allowlist are affected. Mitigation Upgrade to Loofah >= 2.25.2. Credit Found by the maintainer, Mike Dalessio, during a security audit.

Related

Alias · CVE (1)

  • CVE-2026-73490 Loofah is a general library for manipulating and transforming HTML/XML documents and fragments, built on top of Nokogiri. vulnerability

Weakness · CWE (1)

  • CWE-79 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation weakness

References