VulnerabilityPublished 7 Jan 2023Updated 28 May 2025

CVE-2020-36644: jamesmartin Inline SVG · Cross-site Scripting

Affects jamesmartin Inline SVGSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 3.5 Low.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

3.5Low

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 53% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: Low
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 7 Jan 2023
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
jamesmartin Inline SVG	Affected =1.7.0 =1.7.1	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should immediately upgrade the jamesmartin Inline SVG gem to version 1.7.2 or later, which contains the official patch. Additionally, developers should audit their usage of the Inline SVG gem to ensure that all user-supplied inputs, especially the 'filename' parameter, are properly sanitized and validated before rendering. Implementing Content Security Policy (CSP) headers can help reduce the impact of potential XSS by restricting script execution sources. Web application firewalls (WAFs) can be configured to detect and block suspicious payloads targeting SVG rendering endpoints. Security teams should also conduct regular code reviews and penetration testing focused on client-side injection points. User awareness training to recognize phishing attempts can reduce the risk of successful exploitation requiring user interaction. Finally, monitoring web application logs for unusual requests involving SVG filenames can provide early detection of exploitation attempts.

Description

A vulnerability has been found in jamesmartin Inline SVG up to 1.7.1 and classified as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the file lib/inline_svg/action_view/helpers.rb of the component URL Parameter Handler. The manipulation of the argument filename leads to cross site scripting. The attack can be launched remotely. Upgrading to version 1.7.2 is able to address this issue. The identifier of the patch is f5363b351508486021f99e083c92068cf2943621. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component. The identifier VDB-217597 was assigned to this vulnerability.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2020-36644 is generally low but not negligible. Organizations using Ruby on Rails frameworks that incorporate the jamesmartin Inline SVG gem in affected versions may be exposed to XSS attacks. Such attacks could lead to session hijacking, defacement, or redirection to malicious sites, undermining user trust and potentially exposing sensitive user interactions. While the vulnerability does not directly compromise data confidentiality or availability, the integrity of user sessions and the reputation of affected web services could be harmed. This is particularly relevant for sectors with high web presence such as e-commerce, government portals, and online services. Additionally, regulatory frameworks like GDPR emphasize protecting user data and privacy, so even low-severity XSS vulnerabilities must be addressed promptly to avoid compliance risks. The requirement for user interaction reduces the likelihood of widespread automated exploitation, but targeted phishing or social engineering campaigns could leverage this vulnerability against European users.

Summary

CVE-2020-36644 is a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability classified under CWE-79 affecting the jamesmartin Inline SVG Ruby gem versions up to 1.7.1. The vulnerability resides in the file lib/inline_svg/action_view/helpers.rb within the URL Parameter Handler component. Specifically, it involves improper sanitization or validation of the 'filename' argument, which can be manipulated by an attacker to inject malicious scripts. This flaw allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary JavaScript in the context of the victim's browser when they access a crafted URL or page that uses the vulnerable Inline SVG component. The vulnerability requires low privileges (PR:L) and user interaction (UI:R), meaning an attacker must trick a user into clicking a malicious link or visiting a compromised page. The vulnerability does not impact confidentiality or availability but can lead to integrity issues such as session hijacking or defacement via script injection. The issue is resolved by upgrading to version 1.7.2, which includes a patch identified by commit f5363b351508486021f99e083c92068cf2943621. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 3.5, reflecting a low severity due to limited impact and exploitation conditions. Inline SVG is a Ruby gem commonly used in web applications to embed SVG images inline, often in Rails environments. The vulnerability's exploitation could affect web applications that rely on this gem for rendering SVGs, potentially impacting user trust and application integrity if exploited.

CWE-79Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #1OWASP Top 10 A05:2025: Injection (opens in a new tab)
The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
Implementation · Architecture and Design
Understand the context in which your data will be used and the encoding that will be expected. This is especially important when transmitting data between different components, or when generating outputs that can contain multiple encodings at the same time, such as web pages or multi-part mail messages.
Architecture and Design · Implementation · Attack Surface Reduction
Understand all the potential areas where untrusted inputs can enter your software: parameters or arguments, cookies, anything read from the network, environment variables, reverse DNS lookups, query results, request headers, URL components, e-mail, files, filenames, databases, and any external systems that provide…
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Cross Site Scripting Prevention (opens in a new tab)
DOM based XSS Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Injection Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
Deserialization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V5.3.3 (opens in a new tab)
V1.5.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
XSS Using MIME Type Mismatch (opens in a new tab)
DOM-Based XSS (opens in a new tab)
Reflected XSS (opens in a new tab)
Stored XSS (opens in a new tab)
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 7 Jul 2025, 09:25 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-79

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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