What is CVE-2023-25571?

CVE-2023-25571 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Backstage, classified under Cross-site Scripting. CVSS score: 6.8/10. Published 2023-02-14.

How severe is CVE-2023-25571?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.8 out of 10.

XSS in Backstage

CVE-2023-25571

Backstage is an open platform for building developer portals. `@backstage/catalog-model` prior to version 1.2.0, `@backstage/core-components` prior to 0.12.4, and `@backstage/plugin-catalog-backend` prior to 1.7.2 are affected by a cross-site scripting vulnerability. This vulnerability allows a malicious actor with access to add or modify content in an instance of the Backstage software catalog to inject script URLs in the entities stored in the catalog. If users of the catalog then click on said URLs, that can lead to an XSS attack. This vulnerability has been patched in both the frontend and backend implementations. The default `Link` component from `@backstage/core-components` version 1.2.0 and greater will now reject `javascript:` URLs, and there is a global override of `window.open` to do the same. In addition, the catalog model v0.12.4 and greater as well as the catalog backend v1.7.2 and greater now has additional validation built in that prevents `javascript:` URLs in known annotations. As a workaround, the general practice of limiting access to modifying catalog content and requiring code reviews greatly help mitigate this vulnerability.

Vulnerability class: XSS (Cross-Site Scripting)

Published 2023-02-14 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.8 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.005 (38.4th percentile), scored 2026-10-23.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 38th percentile — 38.4% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.005 · newest: 0.005 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Backstage — versions < 1.2.0, < 0.12.4, < 1.7.2
Linuxfoundation Backstage Catalog-Model
Linuxfoundation Backstage Core-Components
Linuxfoundation Backstage Plugin-Catalog-Backend

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

github.com/backstage/backstage/security/advisories/GHSA-7hv8-3fr9-j2hv (Vendor Advisory)
github.com/backstage/backstage/commit/3d1371954512f7fa8bd0e2d357e00eada2c3e8a8 (Patch)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-25571?: CVE-2023-25571 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Backstage, classified under Cross-site Scripting. CVSS score: 6.8/10. Published 2023-02-14.
How severe is CVE-2023-25571?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.8 out of 10.