CVE-2026-28338

PMD Designer has Stored XSS in VBHTMLRenderer and YAHTMLRenderer via unescaped violation messages

Published Feb 27, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 6.8 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
PMD is an extensible multilanguage static code analyzer. Prior to version 7.22.0, PMD's `vbhtml` and `yahtml` report formats insert rule violation messages into HTML output without escaping. When PMD analyzes untrusted source code containing crafted string literals, the generated HTML report contains executable JavaScript that runs when opened in a browser. Practical impact is limited because `vbhtml` and `yahtml` are legacy formats rarely used in practice. The default `html` format is properly escaped and not affected. Version 7.22.0 contains a fix for the issue.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-8rr6-2qw5-pc7r PMD Designer has Stored XSS in VBHTMLRenderer and YAHTMLRenderer via unescaped violation messages
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Pmd Project
Pmd Project pmd
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:pmd_project:pmd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Pmd Project
Pmd Project pmd
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Pmd
Pmd pmd
Vendors & Products Pmd
Pmd pmd
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description PMD is an extensible multilanguage static code analyzer. Prior to version 7.22.0, PMD's `vbhtml` and `yahtml` report formats insert rule violation messages into HTML output without escaping. When PMD analyzes untrusted source code containing crafted string literals, the generated HTML report contains executable JavaScript that runs when opened in a browser. Practical impact is limited because `vbhtml` and `yahtml` are legacy formats rarely used in practice. The default `html` format is properly escaped and not affected. Version 7.22.0 contains a fix for the issue.
Title PMD Designer has Stored XSS in VBHTMLRenderer and YAHTMLRenderer via unescaped violation messages
Weaknesses CWE-79
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 6.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Mar 3, 2026, 8:26 PM
Reserved
Feb 26, 2026, 6:38 PM
Status
Analyzed
Published
Feb 27, 2026, 9:16 PM
Modified
Jun 17, 2026, 10:28 AM