Description
Hugo versions 0.75.0 through 0.165.x contain a stored cross-site scripting vulnerability: the syntax highlighter does not escape the `lineAnchors` option before passing it to Chroma, which writes the value verbatim into the `id` and `href` attributes of the generated line-number markup. A crafted `lineAnchors` value supplied as a Markdown code fence attribute (or passed to the `highlight` template function) results in unescaped HTML in the rendered page, allowing arbitrary JavaScript to execute in the browsers of visitors to the generated site. This affects sites that build and publish Markdown from untrusted contributors; Hugo's security model otherwise considers content trusted input. Fixed in 0.166.0, where the `lineAnchors` value is HTML-escaped before being passed to Chroma.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| gohugoio | hugo | 0.75.0 – < 0.166.0 | 0.166.0 |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | hugo | 0.166.0-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | hugo | No fix yet | — |
| Debian 12 | hugo | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | hugo | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | hugo | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | hugo | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | hugo | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | hugo | No fix yet | — |
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | hugo | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS | hugo | No fix yet | — |
Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Hardened Images 1 | hugo | 0.166.0-0.1.hum1 | RHSA-2026:66266 |
Advisories 1
- RHSA-2026:66266 Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Oct 20, 2026
References
- GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-q4xf-287f-98r8) vendor-advisory
- VulnCheck Advisory: Hugo before 0.166.0 Stored XSS via lineAnchors code block option third-party-advisory