High severity · published Jul 14, 2026
CVE-2026-48801
linkify-it: Quadratic algorithmic complexity in LinkifyIt#match scan loop
7.5
CVSS
0.4%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
linkify-it is a links recognition library with full Unicode support. Prior to 5.0.1, LinkifyIt.prototype.match, the package's primary public API, has O(N²) algorithmic complexity for inputs containing many fuzzy links or emails because the JavaScript-level scan loop re-slices input and re-runs unanchored regex searches on progressively shorter tails. Any service that synchronously renders untrusted Markdown with linkify:true on a request hot path can inherit a worker-process denial of service triggerable by a tens-of-KB request body. This issue is fixed in version 5.0.1.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.4% · higher than 33% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
LI
linkify-it · markdown-it
< 5.0.1 · source: vendor, NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-48801
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-48801
Patch
https://github.com/markdown-it/linkify-it/commit/6be6d15e0641bf1daeaa977d500cabc743166159
Exploit
https://github.com/markdown-it/linkify-it/security/advisories/GHSA-22p9-wv53-3rq4
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