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CVE-2026-121438

Full vulnerability record from the local CVENow database.

Description

Mistune before 3.3.3 contains a denial of service vulnerability in InlineParser.parse_link that allows attackers to cause quadratic CPU growth by supplying balanced nested brackets. Attackers can submit crafted Markdown with thousands of nested bracket pairs not forming a valid link, triggering repeated _contains_nested_link scans that exhaust CPU in parsing applications.

Severity
MEDIUM
CVSS score
6.9 (v4.0)
Vulnerability status
Deferred
Source identifier
Published
2026-11-03 15:17:35.330000
Last modified
2026-11-03 15:17:35.457000
View original CVE JSON
{
  "id": "CVE-2026-121438",
  "sourceIdentifier": "[email protected]",
  "published": "2026-11-03T15:17:35.330",
  "lastModified": "2026-11-03T15:17:35.457",
  "vulnStatus": "Deferred",
  "cveTags": [],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "Mistune before 3.3.3 contains a denial of service vulnerability in InlineParser.parse_link that allows attackers to cause quadratic CPU growth by supplying balanced nested brackets. Attackers can submit crafted Markdown with thousands of nested bracket pairs not forming a valid link, triggering repeated _contains_nested_link scans that exhaust CPU in parsing applications."
    }
  ],
  "affected": [
    {
      "source": "[email protected]",
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "vendor": "lepture",
          "product": "mistune",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "packageURL": "pkg:pypi/mistune",
          "versions": [
            {
              "version": "0",
              "lessThan": "3.3.3",
              "versionType": "semver",
              "status": "affected"
            },
            {
              "version": "3.3.3",
              "versionType": "semver",
              "status": "unaffected"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "metrics": {
    "cvssMetricV40": [
      {
        "source": "[email protected]",
        "type": "Secondary",
        "cvssData": {
          "version": "4.0",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X",
          "baseScore": 6.9,
          "baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
          "attackVector": "NETWORK",
          "attackComplexity": "LOW",
          "attackRequirements": "NONE",
          "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
          "userInteraction": "NONE",
          "vulnConfidentialityImpact": "NONE",
          "vulnIntegrityImpact": "NONE",
          "vulnAvailabilityImpact": "LOW",
          "subConfidentialityImpact": "NONE",
          "subIntegrityImpact": "NONE",
          "subAvailabilityImpact": "NONE",
          "exploitMaturity": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "confidentialityRequirement": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "integrityRequirement": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "availabilityRequirement": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedAttackVector": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedAttackComplexity": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedAttackRequirements": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedPrivilegesRequired": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedUserInteraction": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedVulnConfidentialityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedVulnIntegrityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedVulnAvailabilityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedSubConfidentialityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedSubIntegrityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedSubAvailabilityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "Safety": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "Automatable": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "Recovery": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "valueDensity": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "vulnerabilityResponseEffort": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "providerUrgency": "NOT_DEFINED"
        }
      }
    ],
    "cvssMetricV31": [
      {
        "source": "[email protected]",
        "type": "Primary",
        "cvssData": {
          "version": "3.1",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L",
          "baseScore": 5.3,
          "baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
          "attackVector": "NETWORK",
          "attackComplexity": "LOW",
          "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
          "userInteraction": "NONE",
          "scope": "UNCHANGED",
          "confidentialityImpact": "NONE",
          "integrityImpact": "NONE",
          "availabilityImpact": "LOW"
        },
        "exploitabilityScore": 3.9,
        "impactScore": 1.4
      }
    ]
  },
  "weaknesses": [
    {
      "source": "[email protected]",
      "type": "Primary",
      "description": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-400"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "references": [
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/lepture/mistune/commit/fe02f40faf091f86da9ed62c865f31e11da111d7",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/lepture/mistune/security/advisories/GHSA-47p6-w2rc-5qf7",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/mistune-before-3.3.3-denial-of-service-via-balanced-bracket-link-parsing",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    }
  ]
}