Upcoming jQuery changes in Blackbaud CRM and BBIS

Poornima Rao

At Blackbaud, your security is our priority. We regularly update our environments and applications to provide a stable and secure product experience. Here is some information on upcoming jQuery changes in Blackbaud CRM and BBIS.

 In our upcoming Service Pack 25 release we are upgrading the jQuery version in Blackbaud CRM (BBCRM) and Blackbaud Internet Solutions (BBIS) to 3.5.1.  The Service Pack 25 release is scheduled for August 2020. You may need to take action by updating customizations that utilize self-closing tags to alleviate impact.

Reason for change:

BBCRM and BBIS currently use the JavaScript library, jQuery 3.4.1.  In May 2020, jQuery version 3.5.1 was released to address a known security vulnerability.  In adherence to our practice of regularly updating our solutions to address known vulnerabilities, we are updating BBCRM and BBIS to use jQuery 3.5.1.  We currently have no indication that BBCRM and BBIS customers have experienced an attack related to the vulnerability addressed in jQuery 3.5.1. 

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Details of the change:

Since BBCRM and BBIS will be upgrading over multiple versions of jQuery, consideration should be given to all changes between version 3.4.1 and 3.5.1. 

 

Blackbaud is aware of a potential breaking change introduced in jQuery 3.5.0 pertaining to jQuery.htmlprefilter.  Specifically, a change was made to how self-closing tags are handled, which may cause UI rendering issues when self-closing tags have been used.  Please refer to the jQuery documentation for more details on version changes (https://jquery.com/upgrade-guide/3.5/).

 

We have updated the BBCRM and BBIS product code to address the above scenario, but there may be instances of customizations that could be affected by the jQuery 3.5.0 change. 

 

Required changes may vary based on the customization.  Here is a before and after example of a change made in BBCRM and BBIS code.  During testing, a self-closing tag was identified in the ConstituentSummaryTilePanelViewForm.HTML on the Constituents page.  In this example, the resolution was to modify the code to close the tag:



What actions do I need to take?

As a part of the upgrade to SP25, please review and update any customizations that use self-closing tags, as there is a high likelihood that these will be impacted.  If you have questions around this change, please contact Blackbaud Support.