High severity · published Jun 24, 2026
CVE-2026-49851
Mistune: Potential DoS via quadratic-time parsing in parse_link_text
7.5
CVSS
0.5%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
Mistune is a Python Markdown parser with renderers and plugins. Prior to 3.3.0, Mistune is vulnerable to a CPU exhaustion DoS due to superlinear (approximately O(n²)) behavior in parse_link_text. When parsing Markdown containing many consecutive [ characters, parse_link_text repeatedly scans the input using a regex search inside a loop. Each iteration re-scans a large portion of the remaining string, resulting in quadratic-time behavior. An attacker-controlled Markdown input can therefore trigger excessive CPU usage with a very small payload. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.3.0.
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)0.5% · higher than 44% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
MI
mistune · lepture
< 3.3.0 · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
RH
Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.4 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-49851
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-49851
github.com
https://github.com/lepture/mistune/security/advisories/GHSA-qcq2-496w-v96p
access.redhat.com
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:60520
access.redhat.com
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-49851
bugzilla.redhat.com
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2492304
security.access.redhat.com
https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-49851.json
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