CWE-1022
Use of Web Link to Untrusted Target with window.opener Access
Extended description
When a user clicks a link to an external site ("target"), the target="_blank" attribute causes the target site's contents to be opened in a new window or tab, which runs in the same process as the original page. The window.opener object records information about the original page that offered the link. If an attacker can run script on the target page, then they could read or modify certain properties of the window.opener object, including the location property - even if the original and target site are not the same origin. An attacker can modify the location property to automatically redirect the user to a malicious site, e.g. as part of a phishing attack. Since this redirect happens in the original window/tab - which is not necessarily visible, since the browser is focusing the display on the new target page - the user might not notice any suspicious redirection.
Common consequences1
- ConfidentialityAlter Execution Logic
The user may be redirected to an untrusted page that contains undesired content or malicious script code.
Potential mitigations3
- Architecture and Design
Specify in the design that any linked external document must not be granted access to the location object of the calling page.
- Implementation
When creating a link to an external document using the <a> tag with a defined target, for example "_blank" or a named frame, provide the rel attribute with a value "noopener noreferrer". If opening the external document in a new window via javascript, then reset the opener by setting it equal to null.
- Implementation
Do not use "_blank" targets. However, this can affect the usability of the application.
Relationships1
- ChildOfCWE-266
CVEs referencing this CWE12
| CVE | Description | Severity | EPSS | Flags | Modified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2022-1583 | The External Links in New Window / New Tab WordPress plugin before 1.43 does not ensure window.opener is set to "null" when links to external sites are clicked, which may enable tabnabbing attacks to occur. | MEDIUM6.5 | 1.27%p66 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2021-39112 | Affected versions of Atlassian Jira Server and Data Center allow remote attackers to redirect users to a malicious URL via a reverse tabnapping vulnerability in the Project Shortcuts feature. The affected versions are before version 8.5.15, from version 8.6.0 before 8.13.7, from version 8.14.0 before 8.17.1, and from version 8.18.0 before 8.18.1. | MEDIUM4.8 | 0.71%p48 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2020-36624 | A vulnerability was found in ahorner text-helpers up to 1.0.x. It has been declared as critical. This vulnerability affects unknown code of the file lib/text_helpers/translation.rb. The manipulation of the argument link leads to use of web link to untrusted target with window.opener access. The attack can be initiated remotely. Upgrading to version 1.1.0 is able to address this issue. The name of the patch is 184b60ded0e43c985788582aca2d1e746f9405a3. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component. The identifier of this vulnerability is VDB-216520. | MEDIUM6.1 | 0.57%p43 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2021-33697 | Under certain conditions, SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform (SAPUI5), versions - 420, 430, can allow an unauthenticated attacker to redirect users to a malicious site due to Reverse Tabnabbing vulnerabilities. | MEDIUM6.1 | 0.56%p42 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2018-25058 | A vulnerability classified as problematic has been found in Twitter-Post-Fetcher up to 17.x. This affects an unknown part of the file js/twitterFetcher.js of the component Link Target Handler. The manipulation leads to use of web link to untrusted target with window.opener access. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. Upgrading to version 18.0.0 is able to address this issue. The name of the patch is 7d281c6fb5acbc29a2cad295262c1f0c19ca56f3. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component. The identifier VDB-217017 was assigned to this vulnerability. | MEDIUM6.1 | 0.52%p40 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2018-25089 | A vulnerability was found in glb Meetup Tag Extension 0.1 on MediaWiki. It has been rated as problematic. This issue affects some unknown processing of the component Link Attribute Handler. The manipulation leads to use of web link to untrusted target with window.opener access. Upgrading to version 0.2 is able to address this issue. The identifier of the patch is 850c726d6bbfe0bf270801fbb92a30babea4155c. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component. The identifier VDB-238157 was assigned to this vulnerability. | MEDIUM5.3 | 0.50%p39 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2022-4927 | A vulnerability was found in ualbertalib NEOSDiscovery 1.0.70 and classified as problematic. This issue affects some unknown processing of the file app/views/bookmarks/_refworks.html.erb. The manipulation leads to use of web link to untrusted target with window.opener access. The attack may be initiated remotely. Upgrading to version 1.0.71 is able to address this issue. The patch is named abe9f57123e0c278ae190cd7402a623d66c51375. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component. The associated identifier of this vulnerability is VDB-222287. | MEDIUM6.1 | 0.49%p38 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2022-2600 | The Auto-hyperlink URLs WordPress plugin through 5.4.1 does not set rel="noopener noreferer" on generated links, which can lead to Tab Nabbing by giving the target site access to the source tab through the window.opener DOM object. | MEDIUM5.4 | 0.49%p38 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2024-39727 | IBM Engineering Lifecycle Optimization - Engineering Insights 7.0.2 and 7.0.3 uses a web link with untrusted references to an external site. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to expose sensitive information or perform unauthorized actions on the victims’ web browser. | CRITICAL9.8 | 0.32%p24 | 2025-01-10 | |
| CVE-2025-59842 | jupyterlab is an extensible environment for interactive and reproducible computing, based on the Jupyter Notebook Architecture. Prior to version 4.4.8, links generated with LaTeX typesetters in Markdown files and Markdown cells in JupyterLab and Jupyter Notebook did not include the noopener attribute. This is deemed to have no impact on the default installations. Theoretically users of third-party LaTeX-rendering extensions could find themselves vulnerable to reverse tabnabbing attacks if links generated by those extensions included target=_blank (no such extensions are known at time of writing) and they were to click on a link generated in LaTeX (typically visibly different from other links). This issue has been patched in version 4.4.8. | MEDIUM4.3 | 0.21%p11 | 2025-10-22 | |
| CVE-2025-33014 | IBM Sterling B2B Integrator and IBM Sterling File Gateway 6.0.0.0 through 6.1.2.7 and 6.2.0.0 through 6.2.0.4 uses a web link with untrusted references to an external site. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to expose sensitive information or perform unauthorized actions on the victims’ web browser. | MEDIUM6.1 | 0.19%p9 | 2025-08-18 | |
| CVE-2025-42941 | SAP Fiori (Launchpad) is vulnerable to Reverse Tabnabbing vulnerability due to inadequate external navigation protections for its link (<a>) elements. An attacker with administrative user privileges could exploit this by leveraging compromised or malicious pages. While administrative access is necessary for certain configurations, the attacker does not need the administrative privileges to execute the attack. This could result in unintended manipulation of user sessions or exposure of sensitive information. The issue impacts the confidentiality and integrity of the system, but the availability remains unaffected. | LOW3.5 | 0.18%p8 | 2026-04-15 |