vulnerability / NVI-00015135 / Revision 2
pymdown-extensions: exponential-backtracking ReDoS in caret, tilde, betterem, and magiclink inline processors
GitHub lists this reviewed advisory for pymdown-extensions. Published version ranges and source prerequisites are shown below; this is not an inspection of a visitor’s application.
This report has not inspected your inventory, configuration, deployed build, reachability or evidence. A catalog listing and a severity score do not establish exposure or compromise.
01 / Meaning
Why it matters
Published affected context helps an owner decide what evidence to gather. This report has not examined your application.
7.5 high
GitHub source severity; exploitability and local consequence require separate evidence.
As of · GitHub Advisory Database
7.5 HIGH (3.1)
security-advisories@github.com severity; no combined Null risk score.
02 / Applicability
The affected context
Affected versions, configuration prerequisites and known exclusions are public. Confirm each one against the deployed service.
pymdown-extensions
source listed<= 11.0.0
### Summary Four inline processors in pymdown-extensions contain regular expressions with exponential backtracking. A single untrusted Markdown line under 50 bytes drives `markdown.markdown()` into unbounded CPU on the rendering thread (seconds at ~45 bytes, growing exponentially with each added character). All four fire in the extension's **default configuration** and are reachable through the documented public API. The `caret`/`tilde`/ `betterem` blow-up was introduced by the emphasis-pattern rewrite in PR #2547 (first released in **10.13**, Dec 2024) — earlier releases used a linear `(.+?)` / `([^\s]+?)` content group — and is present through **11.0** (latest); `magiclink`'s host pattern is long-standing and affects effectively all releases. Likely **CWE-1333 (Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity)**. This is a distinct issue from CVE-2025-68142 (ReDoS in `pymdownx.blocks.caption`, `RE_FIG_NUM`, fixed in 10.16.1): different extensions, different regexes, and a different root cause (delimiter-run partition ambiguity rather than a `.`/`\.` typo). ### Details Four regexes share, or closely mirror, a vulnerable shape — an inner group that can partition a run of the delimiter
03 / Response
What to do next
- investigate
Identify the exact component and deployed version, examine the linked publisher’s conditions, and retain evidence of any mitigation.
Confirm current vendor support, compatibility and deployment evidence. This report has not tested a fix in your system. NIST National Vulnerability Database
A fixed release is not deployment evidence.
Check current vendor support and compatibility. After making a change, verify the deployed build and relevant runtime conditions. Keep the evidence, owner and time. An updated lockfile alone does not prove what is running.
04 / Limits
What this report cannot establish
- Customer inventory, deployment, reachability and exploitation have not been inspected.
- NVD lastModified does not establish freshness of every associated CPE record.
05 / Provenance
Sources you can inspect
Each assertion retains its source. Mirrored records may repeat one underlying publisher; additional links are not independent corroboration.
- GHSA-gm37-52c6-37mw ↗
GitHub Advisory Database · vendor advisory
Observed . GitHub Advisory Database; CC-BY-4.0. Each advisory links its original attribution. Null normalizes fields.
- CVE-2026-67422 ↗
NIST National Vulnerability Database · official catalog
Observed . This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
Public revision history
Only published revisions appear here. Routine fetches do not create a material-change event.
- Revision 2 ·
Source facts changed; compare the preserved prior revision.
- Revision 1 ·
First indexed by Null; source disclosure date is shown separately.