PMD up to 7.21.x String cross site scripting

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in PMD up to 7.21.x. It has been classified as problematic. This affects an unknown function of the component String Handler. Performing a manipulation results in cross site scripting. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-28338. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, was found in PMD up to 7.21.x. This affects an unknown code block of the component String Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a cross site scripting vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-79. 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. This is going to have an impact on integrity. The summary by CVE is:

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.

The advisory is shared at github.com. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-28338 since 02/26/2026. The exploitability is told to be difficult. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. No form of authentication is needed for exploitation. It demands that the victim is doing some kind of user interaction. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1059.007 for this issue.

Upgrading to version 7.22.0 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at EUVD (EUVD-2026-9069). If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Productinfo

Name

• PMD

Version

• 7.0
• 7.1
• 7.2
• 7.3
• 7.4
• 7.5
• 7.6
• 7.7
• 7.8
• 7.9
• 7.10
• 7.11
• 7.12
• 7.13
• 7.14
• 7.15
• 7.16
• 7.17
• 7.18
• 7.19
• 7.20
• 7.21

Website

• Product: https://github.com/pmd/pmd/

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If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

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