CVE-2026-54743

Lemmy: Stored XSS via markdown image alt-text in lemmy-ui html5-embed

Published Aug 19, 2026 CVSS 4.0 · 6.4 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
Lemmy is a link aggregator and forum for the fediverse. Prior to lemmy-ui 0.19.19-beta.1, LemmyNet/lemmy-ui renders Markdown in src/shared/markdown.ts for post bodies, comment bodies, private messages, and community and site sidebars through mdToHtml, which returns a raw __html object that Inferno injects without a sanitizer pass. setupMarkdown configures html as false but registers markdown-it-html5-embed@1.0.0 with useImageSyntax enabled, so an image targeting video media becomes a video element whose fallback incorporates the image alt text through unescaped string replacement. The html setting does not apply to plugin-generated output, allowing crafted alt text to reach the DOM as live HTML in contexts that do not use mdToHtmlNoImages. An approved member or a remote federated instance can store such content, and a viewer who renders it may execute JavaScript in the lemmy-ui origin, exposing the viewer's session and authenticated actions. The advisory notes that Content Security Policy prevents the described exploit in production, but also states that the tested default self-hosted deployment serves no Content-Security-Policy. This issue is fixed in lemmy-ui version 0.19.19-beta.1.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories available
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Lemmynet
Lemmynet lemmy
Vendors & Products Lemmynet
Lemmynet lemmy
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Lemmy is a link aggregator and forum for the fediverse. Prior to lemmy-ui 0.19.19-beta.1, LemmyNet/lemmy-ui renders Markdown in src/shared/markdown.ts for post bodies, comment bodies, private messages, and community and site sidebars through mdToHtml, which returns a raw __html object that Inferno injects without a sanitizer pass. setupMarkdown configures html as false but registers markdown-it-html5-embed@1.0.0 with useImageSyntax enabled, so an image targeting video media becomes a video element whose fallback incorporates the image alt text through unescaped string replacement. The html setting does not apply to plugin-generated output, allowing crafted alt text to reach the DOM as live HTML in contexts that do not use mdToHtmlNoImages. An approved member or a remote federated instance can store such content, and a viewer who renders it may execute JavaScript in the lemmy-ui origin, exposing the viewer's session and authenticated actions. The advisory notes that Content Security Policy prevents the described exploit in production, but also states that the tested default self-hosted deployment serves no Content-Security-Policy. This issue is fixed in lemmy-ui version 0.19.19-beta.1.
Title Lemmy: Stored XSS via markdown image alt-text in lemmy-ui html5-embed
Weaknesses CWE-79
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 6.4, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Aug 21, 2026, 6:17 PM
Reserved
Jun 15, 2026, 11:12 PM
Status
Deferred
Published
Aug 19, 2026, 9:16 PM
Modified
Sep 9, 2026, 9:15 PM