Description
In versions 3.0.0a1 through 3.2.0 of Mistune, there is a ReDoS (Regular Expression Denial of Service) vulnerability in `LINK_TITLE_RE` that allows an attacker who can supply Markdown for parsing to cause denial of service. The regular expression used for parsing link titles contains overlapping alternatives that can trigger catastrophic backtracking. In both the double-quoted and single-quoted branches, a backslash followed by punctuation can be matched either as an escaped punctuation sequence or as two ordinary characters, creating an ambiguous pattern inside a repeated group. If an attacker supplies Markdown containing repeated ! sequences with no closing quote, the regex engine explores an exponential number of backtracking paths. This is reachable through normal Markdown parsing of inline links and block link reference definitions. A small crafted input can therefore cause significant CPU consumption and make applications using Mistune unresponsive.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| lepture | mistune | >=3.0.0a1, <= 3.2.0 | — |
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 | mistune | No fix yet | — |
| Debian 13 | mistune | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | mistune | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | mistune | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 25.10 | mistune | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | mistune | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | mistune | No fix yet | — |
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | mistune | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | mistune | No fix yet | — |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | python-mistune | 3.2.1-1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2026:10761-1 |
Azure Linux
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure Linux 3 | python-mistune | 3.2.1-1 | — |
Wolfi
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfi rolling | kubeflow-pipelines-visualization-server | 2.16.1-r2 | — |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PyPI | mistune | >= 3.0.0a1, < 3.2.1 | 3.2.1 | GHSA-8mp2-v27r-99xp |
Advisories 1
- openSUSE-SU-2026:10761-1 python311-mistune-3.2.1-1.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · May 13, 2026