commonmark 2.0.0 through 2.8.3 Denial of Service via Slug Collision

MITRE NVD CVE.ORG JSON API

Summary

CVECVE-2026-86434
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerVulnCheck
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-09-07 13:20:42 UTC
Updated2026-09-07 13:20:42 UTC
Descriptionleague/commonmark versions >= 2.0.0 and < 2.8.4 (patched in 2.9.0) contain a denial of service vulnerability in UniqueSlugNormalizer::normalize(), which restarts its numeric-suffix search from 1 on every slug collision, resulting in O(K^2) time complexity for K headings that collapse to the same base slug. The vulnerable path is reached when HeadingPermalinkExtension, FootnoteExtension, or TableOfContentsExtension is registered. An unauthenticated attacker can force many headings onto a single base slug (e.g., via empty ATX headings, identical heading text, or punctuation-only headings) in a small Markdown document, consuming excessive CPU and denying service.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v4.0 8.7 HIGH from [email protected]

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/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

Problem Types: CWE-407 | CWE-407 Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
4.0[email protected]Secondary8.7HIGHCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/C...
4.0CNACVSS8.7HIGHCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
3.1[email protected]Primary7.5HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
3.1CNACVSS7.5HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS v4.0 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Sub Conf.
None
Sub Integrity
None
Sub Availability
None

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/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

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Thephpleague Commonmark affected 2.0.0 2.8.4 semver Not specified
CNA Thephpleague Commonmark unaffected 2.8.4 semver Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
github.com/thephpleague/commonmark/security/advisories/GHSA-mh25-x5hq-wrqp [email protected] github.com
www.vulncheck.com/advisories/commonmark-2.0.0-through-2.8.3-denial-of-service-v... [email protected] www.vulncheck.com
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis

Vendor Comments And Credit

Discovery Credit

CNA: GrahamCampbell (en)

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