USN-8220-1: HtmlUnit vulnerability

Publication date

5 May 2026

Overview

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


Packages

  • htmlunit - headless web browser written in Java

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.

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.

Update instructions

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

Learn more about how to get the fixes.

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu Release Package Version
18.04 LTS bionic libhtmlunit-java –  2.8-3ubuntu1+esm1  
16.04 LTS xenial libhtmlunit-java –  2.8-1ubuntu2.1+esm1  

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