Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) in AIL Framework Tag Selector via Unescaped Tag Names

CVE Details

• Protection status: Protected by Atomicorp rules · About protection statuses
• CVE: CVE-2026-100174
• Name: Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) in AIL Framework Tag Selector via Unescaped Tag Names
• Severity: Medium
• CVSS: 5.1 (v4.0) (Medium)
• CVSS version: 4.0
• CVSS source: CIRCL CNA
• CVSS vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
  • Attack vector: Network
  • Attack complexity: Low
  • Attack requirements: None
  • Privileges required: Low
  • User interaction: Passive
  • Vulnerable-system confidentiality: Low
  • Vulnerable-system integrity: Low
  • Vulnerable-system availability: None
  • Subsequent-system confidentiality: Low
  • Subsequent-system integrity: Low
  • Subsequent-system availability: None
  • Safety: Not defined
• CWE: CWE-79 , CWE-94
• Vendor: ail project
• Vulnerable product: ail framework
• CVE published: 2026-09-25
• CVE last modified: 2026-09-25
• Latest Update: 2026-09-26
• Selected Rule IDs observed: 333140 , 333141 , 340095 , 340147 , 340148 , 341256 , 342259 , 346755 , 350147 , 350148
• Matching rules: 10; rules with blocking actions: 10
• Would-block Rule IDs: 333140 , 333141 , 340095 , 340147 , 340148 , 341256 , 342259 , 346755 , 350147 , 350148
• Request surfaces inspected: JSON request data, Request URI, Request argument names, Request arguments, Request cookies, Request filename, Request headers, SOAP request data, XML request data

Vulnerability Description

The AIL Framework tag selector component (var/www/static/js/tags.js) is vulnerable to stored cross-site scripting (XSS). A user with the ability to create a custom tag could embed an HTML payload containing JavaScript event handlers (e.g., <img src=x onerror=alert(1)> or <svg onload=…>) in the tag name. When another authenticated user opened a page containing the tag selector, the malicious tag name was inserted into the DOM using jQuery’s html property, causing the embedded script to execute in the victim’s browser context.

The vulnerable code paths affected both the suggestion/combo-item rendering (_renderComboItems) and the selected-tag rendering logic. In both cases, the display value derived from the tag’s displayField was passed directly to the html property of a jQuery element constructor, which parses and inserts the string as raw HTML rather than as text.

Preconditions: the attacker must have an authenticated account with permission to create custom tags, and the victim must be an authenticated user who views a page that renders the tag selector with the attacker’s stored tag. The attack is stored (persistent) and does not require the victim to perform any action beyond loading the page.

Security impact: successful exploitation allows arbitrary JavaScript execution in the victim’s browser within the application’s origin, potentially leading to session hijacking, unauthorized data access, form manipulation, or further client-side attacks.

Recommended Actions

1. Maintain the observed Atomicorp protections. Keep your Atomicorp commercial rules current and confirm that the selected observed rules (333140 , 333141 , 340095 , 340147 , 340148 , 341256 , 342259 , 346755 , 350147 , 350148 ) have not been locally disabled. Atomicorp commercial rules are enabled by default. If you use Atomic WAF, review the applicable policy and rule settings.

2. Apply the vendor’s remediation. WAF protection is defense in depth and does not replace upgrading or following the affected vendor’s guidance.

   • Affected versions: ail project ail framework versions earlier than 7.1.
   • CNA guidance source: CIRCL (opens in a new tab)
   • Vendor recommendation: The fix ensures that tag names and display values are rendered as plain text rather than as HTML when no custom renderer is explicitly configured. In the suggestion rendering path, the default (non-renderer) case now uses jQuery’s .text() method, which HTML-escapes the content. In the selection rendering path, the default case uses document.createTextNode() to insert the value as a text node. Custom renderers, which are developer-supplied and trusted to produce safe HTML, continue to use .html() or .prepend() with raw HTML. The eval() call was also replaced with JSON.parse() to eliminate a code-injection vector.

3. Validate after changes. Confirm rule updates are current, review WAF events for the affected application, and test application behavior after vendor upgrades, mitigations, or local policy changes.

Research Notes

Atomicorp WAF protections are designed around attack techniques and exploit behaviors, allowing existing protections to apply across multiple vulnerabilities without requiring a unique rule for every CVE.

Public Vulnerability References

• NVD (opens in a new tab)
• CVE Record (opens in a new tab)
• CVE authority reference: https://github.com/ail-project/ail-framework/commit/b2d0ed05f6cf79b2312a3f1f923d0d1a5d7a9edb (opens in a new tab)

Test or Research Source

• Source: Atomicorp AI Research Framework
• Tags: cve, derived, waf-probe, xss

Research Note Context

This research note documents exploit-technique analysis associated with this vulnerability and references Atomicorp WAF protections observed during engineering review, testing, or validation activities.

Atomicorp security controls are generally designed to identify and mitigate attack techniques and exploit behaviors rather than individual CVE identifiers. As a result, protections developed for one vulnerability may also apply to related attack variants and future vulnerabilities using similar techniques.

Learn More

Atomicorp develops commercially supported security technologies for web applications, servers, endpoints, workloads, and legacy enterprise platforms.

Organizations interested in protecting systems against exploit techniques associated with vulnerabilities such as this one can learn more about:

• Atomic ModSecurity Rules: commercially maintained WAF rules for ModSecurity deployments, including protections for web attacks, bots, scanners, malware, exploitation attempts, and emerging vulnerability classes.
• Atomic WAF: an enterprise web application firewall with Atomicorp rules, centralized management, reporting, authentication controls, and operational tooling.
• Atomic ModSecurity Integrator: a special licensing option for MSPs, MSSPs, OEMs, VARs, reverse proxy providers, and other integrators who want to incorporate Atomicorp ModSecurity rule technology into their own products or services.
• Atomic OSSEC: an enterprise OSSEC-based intrusion detection, compliance, and security monitoring platform.
• Atomic Protector: workload protection for Linux, web, cloud, data center, and hybrid environments.

For additional information, product evaluations, or technical discussions, visit https://www.atomicorp.com/ or https://modsecurity.io/ (opens in a new tab) .