CVE catalog
CVE-2026-48988
markdown-it is a Markdown parser. Versions 14.1.1 and below contain a denial-of-service vulnerability when typographer: true is enabled, due to quadratic (O(n^2)) processing in the smartquotes rule. T
- Severity
- Medium · CVSS 5.3
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - Published
- Source
- [NVD] · [CVE record]
- EPSS
- 0.38% · Oct 25, 2026
markdown-it is a Markdown parser. Versions 14.1.1 and below contain a denial-of-service vulnerability when typographer: true is enabled, due to quadratic (O(n^2)) processing in the smartquotes rule. The issue stems from repeatedly modifying strings with replaceAt(), which performs O(n) slicing and concatenation per quote character. This can cause excessive CPU consumption when parsing quote-heavy, user-supplied markdown and may let attackers degrade or disrupt service availability. Although typographer is disabled by default, many production apps enable it for smart typography, making the issue relevant. This issue has been fixed in version 14.2.0.
Vulnerable and fixed packages
Distribution-reported package versions and fixes. These do not depend on matching against the OpenFactory package catalog.
| Distribution | Package | Release | Version | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debian | node-markdown-it | sid | 22.2.3+dfsg+~12.2.3-5 | fixed |
| Debian | node-markdown-it | forky | 22.2.3+dfsg+~12.2.3-5 | fixed |
| Debian | node-markdown-it | trixie | 22.2.3+dfsg+~12.2.3-2 | vulnerable |
| Debian | node-markdown-it | bookworm | 22.2.3+dfsg+~12.2.3-2 | vulnerable |
| Cpe | node-markdown-it | Not reported | Not reported | vulnerable |
| Cpe | markdown-it | Not reported | 14.2.0 | fixed |
Fixed-version evidence
| Distribution | Package | Type | Release | Fixed version | Urgency | Origin | Bugs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debian | node-markdown-it | source | sid | 22.2.3+dfsg+~12.2.3-5 | not yet assigned | Not reported | [1140349] |
| Debian | node-markdown-it | source | forky | 22.2.3+dfsg+~12.2.3-5 | not yet assigned | Not reported | [1140349] |
| Debian | node-markdown-it | source | trixie | (unfixed) | not yet assigned | Not reported | [1140349] |
| Debian | node-markdown-it | source | bookworm | (unfixed) | not yet assigned | Not reported | [1140349] |
| Cpe | markdown-it | cpe | Not reported | 14.2.0 | Not reported | Not reported | Not reported |
Notes
[trixie] node-markdown-it: Minor issue [bookworm] node-markdown-it: Minor issue; quadratic smartquotes DoS, needs non-default typographer:true
OpenFactory catalog packages
[Debian 12 (Bookworm)]
- [node-markdown-it]Affected
Details (2)
22.2.3+dfsg+~12.2.3-2· all · bookwormAffected
nvd · node-markdown-it · debian · bookworm; nvd · node-markdown-it · debian · 12
22.2.3+dfsg+~12.2.3-2· all · bookwormAffected
nvd · node-markdown-it · debian · bookworm; nvd · node-markdown-it · debian · 12
[Debian 13 (Trixie)]
- [node-markdown-it]Affected
Details (2)
22.2.3+dfsg+~12.2.3-2· all · trixieAffected
nvd · node-markdown-it · debian · 13
22.2.3+dfsg+~12.2.3-2· all · trixieAffected
nvd · node-markdown-it · debian · 13
Observed:
References
- [https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-48988]
- [https://osv.dev/vulnerability/DEBIAN-CVE-2026-48988]
- [https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-48988]
- [https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-48988.json]
[Debian Security Tracker] · [FIRST EPSS] · [National Vulnerability Database (NVD)] · [OSV Package Vulnerability Database] · [Red Hat security advisories and VEX]