CVE-2026-111766

markdown-it: Quadratic-time denial of service in inline HTML parsing with html enabled

Published Oct 19, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 3.7 Low EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
markdown-it is a Markdown parser. Prior to 14.3.3 and 15.0.3, when the html option or commonmark preset is enabled and the constructs occur inside a paragraph, attacker-controlled Markdown containing repeated unterminated inline HTML comments, processing instructions, declarations, or CDATA sections reaches src/rules_inline/html_inline.ts. Its HTML_TAG_RE match searches the remaining suffix for the appropriate terminator; when no terminator is present, parsing advances to the next opener and repeats the match over overlapping input, causing quadratic processing and denial of service through event-loop blocking or an unresponsive browser main thread. HTML blocks and the default HTML-disabled configuration are not affected by these payloads. This issue is fixed in versions 14.3.3 and 15.0.3.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-vfgh-jcmw-g37q markdown-it: Quadratic-time denial of service in inline HTML parsing with html enabled
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Markdown-it
Markdown-it markdown-it
Vendors & Products Markdown-it
Markdown-it markdown-it
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description markdown-it is a Markdown parser. Prior to 14.3.3 and 15.0.3, when the html option or commonmark preset is enabled and the constructs occur inside a paragraph, attacker-controlled Markdown containing repeated unterminated inline HTML comments, processing instructions, declarations, or CDATA sections reaches src/rules_inline/html_inline.ts. Its HTML_TAG_RE match searches the remaining suffix for the appropriate terminator; when no terminator is present, parsing advances to the next opener and repeats the match over overlapping input, causing quadratic processing and denial of service through event-loop blocking or an unresponsive browser main thread. HTML blocks and the default HTML-disabled configuration are not affected by these payloads. This issue is fixed in versions 14.3.3 and 15.0.3.
Title markdown-it: Quadratic-time denial of service in inline HTML parsing with html enabled
Weaknesses CWE-400
CWE-407
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 3.7, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Oct 26, 2026, 5:37 PM
Reserved
Oct 16, 2026, 5:52 PM
Status
Awaiting Analysis
Published
Oct 19, 2026, 8:17 PM
Modified
Oct 26, 2026, 6:17 PM
Severity
Low
Public date
Oct 19, 2026, 7:47 PM