Attack Chain

1. Attacker crafts a malicious Jupyter Notebook file containing a stored XSS payload within the command linker functionality.
2. The attacker distributes the malicious notebook file to a target user (e.g., via email, shared repository, or compromised website).
3. The victim opens the malicious notebook file in a vulnerable version of Jupyter Notebook or JupyterLab.
4. The victim interacts with a seemingly legitimate control element within the notebook that is, in fact, part of the XSS payload.
5. The injected XSS code executes in the victim’s browser, stealing their authentication token.
6. The attacker uses the stolen authentication token to authenticate to the Jupyter REST API.
7. The attacker gains complete control over the victim’s Jupyter account.
8. The attacker performs malicious actions, such as reading files, modifying files, executing arbitrary code, or creating terminals for shell access.

Impact

Successful exploitation of this XSS vulnerability enables complete account takeover, allowing attackers to read, modify, and create files, access running kernels and execute arbitrary code, and create terminals for shell access within the victim’s Jupyter environment. This can lead to data exfiltration, code injection, and potential compromise of sensitive information stored within the Jupyter Notebook environment. Given the widespread use of Jupyter Notebook in data science, machine learning, and research environments, this vulnerability can have far-reaching consequences for individuals and organizations relying on these tools.

Recommendation

• Immediately upgrade Jupyter Notebook to version 7.5.6 or later, and JupyterLab to version 4.5.7 or later to patch CVE-2026-40171.
• Apply the workaround to disable the help extension via CLI as specified in the advisory to mitigate the vulnerability until patching is possible.
• Implement the hardening measure by disabling the command linker functionality via overrides.json to prevent XSS attacks, referencing the configuration details in the advisory.
• Deploy the Sigma rule “Detect Jupyter Notebook CommandLinker XSS Attempt” to detect potential exploitation attempts based on specific HTTP request characteristics.
• Educate users about the risks of opening untrusted Jupyter Notebook files and interacting with potentially malicious content.