CVE-2026-54889
Unsanitized URL schemes in MDEx Quill Delta output allow javascript: injection (XSS)
- 5.1MediumCVSS base score
- 0.39%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 66% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- YesPublic exploitsa reference or SSVC says so
Description
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation (XSS) vulnerability in leandrocp mdex allows cross-site scripting via unsanitized URL schemes in Quill Delta output. 'Elixir.MDEx':to_delta/2 converts Markdown into a Quill Delta. 'Elixir.MDEx.DeltaConverter':default_convert_node/3 in lib/mdex/delta_converter.ex copies the URL of a link, wikilink, or image node directly from the parsed Markdown into the Delta "link" or "image" attribute without applying a scheme allowlist or any normalization. An attacker who controls the Markdown text can supply a javascript: URL (for example [click](javascript:alert(document.cookie))) that survives verbatim into the Delta attribute. When the Delta is rendered to HTML by a downstream renderer (such as quill-delta-to-html or the Quill client), the attribute becomes an <a href> or <img src>, and the javascript: scheme executes in the browser of anyone who views the rendered content. The link and wikilink cases are the strongest vectors because javascript: in an href executes on click; the image case is lower impact because javascript: in <img src> generally does not execute in modern browsers. This issue affects mdex: from 0.8.3 before 0.13.2.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. A reference of the record is tagged as an exploit. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: a proof of concept is public.
Show the exploits1
References tagged exploit1 reference
- https://github.com/leandrocp/mdex/security/advisories/GHSA-4383-7xfp-gpph (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryrelatedexploit
Timeline
ID reserved
By EEF
- 13 days later
· 13 days later
Published
- 1 day later
· 1 day later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| EEFCNA (assigner) | 4.0 | Medium5.1 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N |
| NVDNVD · Deferred | 4.0 | Medium5.1 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/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 |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.39% · top 66% of all CVEs (11 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: poc · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 5.1.
Affected products
What to do
Workaround: Sanitize the Quill Delta produced by 'Elixir.MDEx':to_delta/2 before rendering it: drop or blank any "link" or "image" value whose URL scheme is not in a safe allowlist (http, https, mailto, tel).
References
References4
- https://github.com/leandrocp/mdex/security/advisories/GHSA-4383-7xfp-gpph (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryrelatedexploit
- https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-54889.html (opens in a new tab)related
- https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-54889 (opens in a new tab)related
- https://github.com/leandrocp/mdex/commit/2817147f5b87ce7186aa604c9ee72499485b8f2f (opens in a new tab)patch
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-40178 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-54889)Record last updated .