Description
Versions of the package markdown-it from 13.0.0 and before 14.1.1 are vulnerable to Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) due to the use of the regex /\*+$/ in the linkify function. An attacker can supply a long sequence of * characters followed by a non-matching character, which triggers excessive backtracking and may lead to a denial-of-service condition.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | markdown-it | 13.0.0 – < 14.1.1 | 14.1.1 |
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.
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | node-markdown-it | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | node-markdown-it | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 25.10 | node-markdown-it | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | node-markdown-it | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | node-markdown-it | No fix yet | — |
Wolfi
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfi rolling | renovate | 43.25.2-r0 | — |
| Wolfi rolling | vitess-23 | 23.0.2-r1 | — |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| npm | markdown-it | >= 13.0.0, < 14.1.1 | 14.1.1 | GHSA-38c4-r59v-3vqw |
Advisories 2
- WID-SEC-2026-3046 IBM Concert: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Nov 10, 2026
- WID-SEC-2026-0574 IBM App Connect Enterprise: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Mar 3, 2026
References
- https://security.snyk.io/vuln/SNYK-JS-MARKDOWNIT-10666750
- https://gist.github.com/ltduc147/c9abecae1b291ede4f692f2ab988c917
- https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/blob/14.1.0/lib/rules_inline/linkify.mjs%23L33
- https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/commit/4b4bbcae5e0990a5b172378e507b33a59012ed26