Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) in mistune (CVE-2026-59923)
Summary
Cross-site scripting in mistune (CVE-2026-59923). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. Mitigation: upgrade to 3.3.0 or later.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
Summary
An XSS vulnerability in Mistune allows bypassing of safe_url() protections via percent-encoded javascript URIs.
Details
The vulnerability exists in HTMLRenderer.safe_url() in Mistune.
The function is intended to block harmful URL schemes such as "javascript:" by checking the prefix of the provided URL:
_url = url.lower()
if _url.startswith(self.HARMFUL_PROTOCOLS):
return "#harmful-link"
However, the input URL is not URL-decoded before this check. Because of this, an attacker can use percent-encoding to bypass the filter. For example:
javascript%3Aalert(1)
Since "%3A" is not decoded to ":", the check does not detect the "javascript:" scheme.
When rendered in a browser, the URL is decoded, resulting in execution of arbitrary JavaScript upon user interaction.
This effectively bypasses Mistune's built-in safe_url() protection mechanism.
PoC
-
Install vulnerable version:
pip install mistune==3.2.0
-
Run the following code:
import mistune
markdown = mistune.create_markdown()
html = markdown("j")print(html)
-
Output:
j
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Open the rendered HTML in a browser and click the link.
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The browser decodes "%3A" into ":" and executes:
javascript:alert(1)
Impact
This is a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability.
An attacker can craft a malicious Markdown link that executes JavaScript in the victim's browser when clicked.
Impact includes:
- Session hijacking (e.g., cook…
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database NVD GitHub Advisory
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-59923 has been found in mistune.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. CVSS score: 6.1/10.
What to do: upgrade mistune to 3.3.0 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "mistune CVE-2026-59923" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2026-59923 (mistune) — CWE-79 / CVSS v3 6.1
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / unauthenticated
Patched: 3.3.0 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
Cross-site scripting (XSS) (CWE-79) exists in mistune.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of mistune.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 6.1/10). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
Update to 3.3.0.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'mistune' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
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1Identify exposure identify
grep -r 'mistune' . | grep -v node_modulesリポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で
mistuneを grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。 -
2Apply patch patch
Upgrade mistune to 3.3.0ステージング環境で 3.3.0 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
-
3Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Affected packages
Fix status by distribution
Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE
- Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2026-59923 mistune
References
- advisory nvd.nist.gov
- package github.com
- web github.com
- web github.com
- web github.com
- web github.com
- web github.com