CVE-2026-48988
Last modified
CVE-2026-48988 is a medium-severity vulnerability rated 5.3/10 on the CVSS scale. markdown-it is a Markdown parser. Versions 14.1.1 and below contain a denial-of-service vulnerability when typographer: true is enabled, due to quadratic (O(n^2)) processing in the smartquotes rule. EPSS estimates a 0.31% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.
Description
markdown-it is a Markdown parser. Versions 14.1.1 and below contain a denial-of-service vulnerability when typographer: true is enabled, due to quadratic (O(n^2)) processing in the smartquotes rule. The issue stems from repeatedly modifying strings with replaceAt(), which performs O(n) slicing and concatenation per quote character. This can cause excessive CPU consumption when parsing quote-heavy, user-supplied markdown and may let attackers degrade or disrupt service availability. Although typographer is disabled by default, many production apps enable it for smart typography, making the issue relevant. This issue has been fixed in version 14.2.0.
Metrics
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Weakness Enumeration
Affected Software
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Markdown-It Project | Markdown-It | < 14.2.0 |
References
- https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/security/advisories/GHSA-6v5v-wf23-fmfqExploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/security/advisories/GHSA-6v5v-wf23-fmfqExploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
Timeline
- Published
- Last Modified
- Status
- Analyzed
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