CVE-2026-83616
Description
A flaw was found in xmldom, a JavaScript module for parsing and serializing XML. An attacker can exploit a vulnerability in how processing instructions are handled to inject arbitrary XML structures. This occurs because the software fails to properly validate input, allowing special characters to bypass security checks. Successful exploitation could lead to data manipulation or other integrity impacts within applications processing the affected XML.
Statement
A flaw was found in the xmldom JavaScript package. The Document.createProcessingInstruction() function in lib/dom.js fails to validate target strings, and XMLSerializer.serializeToString() with requireWellFormed: true performs insufficient target validation. An attacker supplying crafted processing instruction targets containing special characters (such as >, ?, or whitespace) can break processing instruction boundaries () during serialization. This enables arbitrary XML markup injection, compromising document integrity in applications processing serialized XML output.
Mitigation
Sanitize or validate all target strings passed to Document.createProcessingInstruction() to ensure compliance with XML Name production rules prior to serialization.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7.5 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
| Availability Impact | None | N/A | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality,Integrity,Availability
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Read Application Data; Modify Application Data
Frequently Asked Questions
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