Phoenix.HTML vulnerable to attribute injection via unvalidated attribute names in attributes_escape/1

Overview

Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in phoenixframework phoenix_html allows an attacker who controls attribute names to inject attributes and script into rendered HTML via Phoenix.HTML.attributes_escape/1.

attributes_escape/1 in lib/phoenix_html.ex escapes attribute values but not attribute names. key_escape/1 passes a binary key through html_escape, which neutralizes quotes and angle brackets but not whitespace, so a key such as x onmouseover ends the attribute and starts a new one. An atom key is only dasherized, so any character passes, including quotes and >. Nested data, aria and phx keys take the same paths. An application is affected when it builds attribute keys from untrusted input and renders them through HEEx <tag {@attrs}>, content_tag/3, or a direct call. Before 3.0.0 the same code lived in Phoenix.HTML.Tag.

This issue affects phoenix_html: from 1.0.0 before 3.3.5 and from 4.0.0 before 4.4.0.

Affected

• phoenix_html >= 1.0.0 < 3.3.5
• phoenix_html >= 4.0.0 < 4.4.0
• phoenixframework/phoenix_html >= 6ad3a1d7960891a468d54636054a98e11dfb5111 < *

Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

Workarounds

Do not derive attribute names from untrusted input. Where dynamic attribute keys are needed, check each key against an allow list, or against a pattern such as ^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9:._-]*$, before passing the map to attributes_escape/1 or a HEEx {@attrs} expression. Do not create atoms from request data.