*DESCRIPTION*
A security vulnerability was recently discovered by Scott B. Szakonyi at The Center for Research Computing at the University of Notre Dame that would allow a malicious actor to exploit the workflow import form to cause a user's browser to execute javascript not originating from within Galaxy. This could allow the malicious actor to gain unauthorized access to Galaxy accounts or client data.
*AFFECTED VERSIONS*
This issue affects all known versions of Galaxy.
In early 2015, the Galaxy Team performed a large XSS audit, the results of which were applied to versions 14.10 and later. Using Galaxy versions earlier than 14.10 is not advisable.
*IMPACT*
Exploitation of reflected XSS vulnerabilities typically requires some coordination, but the consequences of exploitation can result in data or account exposure, so the risk of leaving the issue unfixed is moderate. Administrators of affected servers are encouraged to update immediately.
*INSTRUCTIONS*
To apply the fix, first identify your current Galaxy release version using the `git branch` or `hg branch` commands. If you are on a 'release_YY.MM' branch, you can update with:
% git pull
or:
% hg pull -u
The process above can also be used to update to the 15.07 release if you are on the 'master' git branch or the 'stable' hg branch. If you are on the 'master'/'stable' branch and wish to remain on your current Galaxy major release, check the 'lib/galaxy/version.py' file to determine your major release version, then update to the appropriate branch:
% git checkout -b release_YY.MM origin/release_YY.MM % git pull
or:
% hg pull % hg update release_YY.MM
For the changes to take effect, YOU MUST RESTART ALL GALAXY SERVER PROCESSES.
On behalf of the Galaxy Committers, --nate