CVE-2026-104828

HtmlUnit Neko: Mutation XSS (mXSS) in HTMLWriterFilter - TEXTAREA/TITLE entity decode without re-encode

Published Oct 15, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 7.2 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
HtmlUnit Neko is an HtmlUnit adaptation of NekoHTML. Prior to 5.4.0, HTMLWriterFilter writes decoded TEXTAREA and TITLE character content without entity encoding because both elements are treated as special content. During a parse-and-serialize round trip, entity references inside these escapable raw-text elements are decoded by the parser and then emitted as raw markup by printCharacters(), changing the document's semantics. Applications that use htmlunit-neko in an HTML sanitizer, content filter, or other parse-transform-serialize pipeline can therefore turn attacker-controlled encoded text into executable markup when the output is rendered by a browser. This issue is fixed in version 5.4.0.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

Sign in to view the affected projects.

Advisories

No advisories available
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Htmlunit
Htmlunit htmlunit-neko
Vendors & Products Htmlunit
Htmlunit htmlunit-neko
Type Values Removed Values Added
Title HtmlUnit: Mutation XSS (mXSS) in HTMLWriterFilter - TEXTAREA/TITLE entity decode without re-encode HtmlUnit Neko: Mutation XSS (mXSS) in HTMLWriterFilter - TEXTAREA/TITLE entity decode without re-encode
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description HtmlUnit Neko is an HtmlUnit adaptation of NekoHTML. Prior to 5.4.0, HTMLWriterFilter writes decoded TEXTAREA and TITLE character content without entity encoding because both elements are treated as special content. During a parse-and-serialize round trip, entity references inside these escapable raw-text elements are decoded by the parser and then emitted as raw markup by printCharacters(), changing the document's semantics. Applications that use htmlunit-neko in an HTML sanitizer, content filter, or other parse-transform-serialize pipeline can therefore turn attacker-controlled encoded text into executable markup when the output is rendered by a browser. This issue is fixed in version 5.4.0.
Title HtmlUnit: Mutation XSS (mXSS) in HTMLWriterFilter - TEXTAREA/TITLE entity decode without re-encode
Weaknesses CWE-79
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.2, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Oct 21, 2026, 1:04 AM
Reserved
Oct 2, 2026, 2:17 PM
Status
Deferred
Published
Oct 15, 2026, 7:17 PM
Modified
Oct 21, 2026, 1:17 AM