CVE-2026-53427

Cross-site scripting in MDEx via unescaped highlight_lines_class code-fence attribute

LOW
2.3
CVSS Score
Published: June 29, 2026 at 06:50 PM UTC
Updated: October 25, 2026 at 09:10 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorMDEx

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Severity
LOW2.3
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.7%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in leandrocp MDEx allows stored or reflected cross-site scripting via attacker-controlled Markdown. When syntax highlighting and full info-string forwarding (render: [full_info_string: true]) are enabled, the Lumis adapter copies the value of a code fence's highlight_lines_class info-string attribute, unescaped, into the class attribute of every rendered line. comrak_nif::lumis_adapter::LumisAdapter::parse_custom_attributes in native/comrak_nif/src/lumis_adapter.rs shlex-parses the info string and stores each key=value pair verbatim, highlight_lines_config pulls highlight_lines_class into the per-line class value, and write_highlighted interpolates that value directly into the class attribute of the per-line <div>. A single-quoted shell token preserves an inner double quote through shlex parsing, so a value such as '"><script>alert(1)</script>' terminates the class attribute early and the markup that follows is emitted as live HTML. An attacker who can submit Markdown (through comments, posts, wiki pages, documentation, or any user-generated content) can inject arbitrary HTML and JavaScript that runs in the browser of every user who views the rendered output, enabling session theft, account takeover, and other client-side attacks. No authentication or special privileges are required. The vulnerable native code originally shipped inside mdex (in native/comrak_nif/src/lumis_adapter.rs) and was later extracted into the separate mdex_native package (native/mdex_native_nif/src/lumis_adapter.rs), where it remains unpatched. This issue affects mdex from 0.11.3 before 0.12.3, and mdex_native from 0.1.0 before 0.2.3.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

All versions0.1.00.11.30d7ffc84ea742e1daf666426814e5bb6d0499433956528c5e31746253347029e810a969ab916fd27
Vendor states this is fixed in 6ed94d905f97af188323f042698ae841c02293b4 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 798a363b4339f6f7162ec8437c4c9f9b5ae6fbf3 (fixed)
Affected range stops below 0.12.3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 0.2.3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

2.3LOWEEF
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusDEFERRED
CWE
CWE-79

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