🛡️ CVE-2023-26485 on Debian — cmark-gfm
Description
cmark-gfm is GitHub's fork of cmark, a CommonMark parsing and rendering library and program in C. A polynomial time complexity issue in cmark-gfm may lead to unbounded resource exhaustion and subsequent denial of service. This CVE covers quadratic complexity issues when parsing text which leads with either large numbers of _ characters. This issue has been addressed in version 0.29.0.gfm.10. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should validate that their input comes from trusted sources. ### Impact A polynomial time complexity issue in cmark-gfm may lead to unbounded resource exhaustion and subsequent denial of service. ### Proof of concept `` $ ~/cmark-gfm$ python3 -c 'pad = "_" * 100000; print(pad + "." + pad, end="")' | time ./build/src/cmark-gfm --to plaintext ` Increasing the number 10000 in the above commands causes the running time to increase quadratically. ### Patches This vulnerability have been patched in 0.29.0.gfm.10. ### Note on cmark and cmark-gfm XXX: TBD [cmark-gfm](https://github.com/github/cmark-gfm) is a fork of [cmark](https://github.com/commonmark/cmark) that adds the GitHub Flavored Markdown extensions. The two codebases have diverged over time, but share a common core. These bugs affect both cmark and cmark-gfm`. ### Credit We would like to thank @gravypod for reporting this vulnerability. ### References https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_complexity ### For more information If you have any questions or comments about this advisory: * Open an issue in [github/cmark-gfm](https://github.com/github/cmark-gfm)
Distribution advisory
This page covers CVE-2023-26485 as tracked by Debian, for the package cmark-gfm. The fix is available in version 0.29.0.gfm.13-1; earlier versions remain affected.
How this vulnerability can be exploited
This issue can be reached over the network, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability high.
Weakness class
DEBIAN-CVE-2023-26485 is classified as CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption. A request can consume memory, CPU or storage without limit, exhausting capacity for everyone else.
Affected software
DEBIAN-CVE-2023-26485 is recorded against 4 packages.
- cmark-gfm (fixed in 0.29.0.gfm.13-1)
- python-cmarkgfm (fixed in 2024.11.20-1)
- r-cran-commonmark (fixed in 1.9.1-1)
- ruby-commonmarker (fixed in 0.23.10-1)
Timeline and source
Published on 31 March 2023 and last revised on 7 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from OSV.
References
CVE-2023-26485 on other distributions
Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:
Details
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Affected Packages
| Software | From version | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| cmark-gfm | — | 0.29.0.gfm.13-1 |
| python-cmarkgfm | — | 2024.11.20-1 |
| r-cran-commonmark | — | 1.9.1-1 |
| ruby-commonmarker | — | 0.23.10-1 |
References
Similar Threats
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Vulnerability Monitoring
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