CVE-2026-67422

pymdown-extensions: Exponential-backtracking ReDoS in caret, tilde, betterem, and magiclink inline processors

Published Aug 6, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 7.5 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
pymdown-extensions is a collection of extensions for the Python Markdown library. In versions up to and including 11.0, four inline processors (caret, tilde, betterem, and magiclink) use regular expressions whose content groups can partition a run of delimiter characters in exponentially many ways, causing catastrophic backtracking. As a result, a single untrusted Markdown line under 50 bytes rendered with markdown.markdown() in each extension's default configuration drives the rendering thread into unbounded CPU usage that grows exponentially with input length, enabling an unauthenticated remote attacker who can submit Markdown to cause denial of service. The exposure is concrete for web applications that render user-supplied Markdown (comments, wikis, issue bodies, live preview), including any app using pymdownx.extra which bundles the vulnerable betterem default, as well as hosted docs/CI systems that build untrusted Markdown. The issue has been fixed in version 11.0.1.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-gm37-52c6-37mw pymdown-extensions: exponential-backtracking ReDoS in caret, tilde, betterem, and magiclink inline processors
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Facelessuser
Facelessuser pymdown Extensions
Vendors & Products Facelessuser
Facelessuser pymdown Extensions
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description pymdown-extensions is a collection of extensions for the Python Markdown library. In versions up to and including 11.0, four inline processors (caret, tilde, betterem, and magiclink) use regular expressions whose content groups can partition a run of delimiter characters in exponentially many ways, causing catastrophic backtracking. As a result, a single untrusted Markdown line under 50 bytes rendered with markdown.markdown() in each extension's default configuration drives the rendering thread into unbounded CPU usage that grows exponentially with input length, enabling an unauthenticated remote attacker who can submit Markdown to cause denial of service. The exposure is concrete for web applications that render user-supplied Markdown (comments, wikis, issue bodies, live preview), including any app using pymdownx.extra which bundles the vulnerable betterem default, as well as hosted docs/CI systems that build untrusted Markdown. The issue has been fixed in version 11.0.1.
Title pymdown-extensions: Exponential-backtracking ReDoS in caret, tilde, betterem, and magiclink inline processors
Weaknesses CWE-1333
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Aug 7, 2026, 5:00 PM
Reserved
Jul 29, 2026, 3:02 PM
Status
Awaiting Analysis
Published
Aug 6, 2026, 10:18 PM
Modified
Oct 24, 2026, 4:10 PM
Severity
Important
Public date
Aug 6, 2026, 8:26 PM