Ubuntu USN · USN-8220-1

HtmlUnit vulnerability

Published: Tue, 05 May 2026 21:05

CVE-2023-49093

Summary

HtmlUnit could be made to run programs as your login if it opened a malicious website.

Details

It was discovered that HtmlUnit was vulnerable to remote code execution via XSLT when browsing an attacker-controlled webpage. An attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code in the context of the application using HtmlUnit.

Recommended actions per Ubuntu release

StackPatch playbook auto-generated per release codename and per affected package.

Ubuntu bionic

htmlunit→2.8-3ubuntu1+esm1apt_upgrade
Standard apt upgrade. Install 2.8-3ubuntu1+esm1 from the apt repo.
```
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade -y htmlunit
```
Most apt upgrades restart their service automatically. needrestart lists anything else.
libhtmlunit-java→2.8-3ubuntu1+esm1apt_upgrade
Standard apt upgrade. Install 2.8-3ubuntu1+esm1 from the apt repo.
```
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade -y libhtmlunit-java
```
Most apt upgrades restart their service automatically. needrestart lists anything else.

Ubuntu xenial

htmlunit→2.8-1ubuntu2.1+esm1apt_upgrade
Standard apt upgrade. Install 2.8-1ubuntu2.1+esm1 from the apt repo.
```
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade -y htmlunit
```
Most apt upgrades restart their service automatically. needrestart lists anything else.
libhtmlunit-java→2.8-1ubuntu2.1+esm1apt_upgrade
Standard apt upgrade. Install 2.8-1ubuntu2.1+esm1 from the apt repo.
```
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade -y libhtmlunit-java
```
Most apt upgrades restart their service automatically. needrestart lists anything else.

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