CVE-2026-48988
markdown-it: Quadratic complexity DoS in smartquotes rule via replaceAt string operations
MEDIUM 5.3
At a glance
- Source
- NVD
- EPSS
- EPSS 0.38 % · percentile 32 ()
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Published
- Updated
- Assigner
- GitHub_M
- NVD status
- Analyzed
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.
Weaknesses (CWE)
- CWE-400 — Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (DoS)
References
Scores
| Version | Score | Vector | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM 5.3 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L | GitHub_M |
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM 5.3 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L | NVD · security-advisories@github.com (Secondary) |
Advisories
- GHSA-6v5v-wf23-fmfq — markdown-it: Quadratic complexity DoS in smartquotes rule via replaceAt string operations
European references
- ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-37799
- GCVE · GCVE-0-2026-48988
CERT-FR advisories
- CERTFR-2026-AVI-1256 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits IBM · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2026-AVI-1094 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits IBM · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2026-AVI-0933 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits IBM · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
Affected configurations (NVD CPE)
cpe:2.3:a:markdown-it_project:markdown-it:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*< 14.2.0
Affected products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
| markdown-it · markdown-it | affected < 14.2.0 |
Sources
| Source | Licence |
|---|---|
| CVE List (CVEProject cvelistV5) | CVE Program Terms of Use |
| EPSS (FIRST.org) | FIRST — attribution requested |
| ENISA EUVD | ENISA — reproduction authorised, source acknowledged |
| CERT-FR (ANSSI) | Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0 |
| NVD (NIST) via fkie-cad/nvd-json-data-feeds | Public domain — this product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD |