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CVE Record

CVE-2026-33079: Mistune ReDoS in LINK_TITLE_RE allows denial of service with crafted Markdown titles

In versions 3.0.0a1 through 3.2.0 of Mistune, there is a ReDoS (Regular Expression Denial of Service) vulnerability in `LINK_TITLE_RE` that allows an attacker who can supply Markdown for parsing to cause denial of service. The regular expression used for parsing link titles contains overlapping alternatives that can trigger catastrophic backtracking. In both the double-quoted and single-quoted branches, a backslash followed by punctuation can be matched either as an escaped punctuation sequence or as two ordinary characters, creating an ambiguous pattern inside a repeated group. If an attacker supplies Markdown containing repeated ! sequences with no closing quote, the regex engine explores an exponential number of backtracking paths. This is reachable through normal Markdown parsing of inline links and block link reference definitions. A small crafted input can therefore cause significant CPU consumption and make applications using Mistune unresponsive.

HighCVSS 8.7Not KEV-listedUpdated
Glexia's TakeAutomated analysishigh

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

Mistune, a Python Markdown parser, can be forced into excessive CPU work when parsing specially crafted Markdown link titles. Applications that accept attacker-controlled Markdown may become slow or unresponsive. The issue is denial of service, not data theft or code execution based on the supplied sources.

Executive priority

Treat this as high priority for public-facing or multi-tenant services that parse Markdown. The business risk is service disruption from low-complexity unauthenticated input, not compromise of confidentiality or integrity based on current evidence.

Technical view

CVE-2026-33079 is a ReDoS in Mistune versions 3.0.0a1 through 3.2.0. The vulnerable LINK_TITLE_RE pattern has overlapping alternatives that can trigger catastrophic backtracking during inline link and reference definition parsing, causing high CPU consumption from small malformed Markdown input.

Likely exposure

Exposure is most likely in Python applications using affected Mistune versions to parse Markdown supplied by users, customers, integrations, or public forms. Internal-only Markdown processing has lower business exposure unless reachable through automated or shared workflows.

Exploitation context

The CVE is not marked KEV, and the supplied sources do not report active exploitation. Exploitation requires the ability to supply Markdown for parsing; no authentication is required in the CVSS vector, but real exposure depends on each application’s input path.

Researcher notes

The root cause is regex ambiguity in LINK_TITLE_RE, where escaped punctuation and ordinary characters overlap inside repeated quoted-title branches. Keep validation non-destructive; confirm version exposure and reachable Markdown parsing paths rather than reproducing CPU exhaustion in production.

Mitigation direction

  • Inventory applications and packages using Mistune versions 3.0.0a1 through 3.2.0.
  • Check the Mistune GitHub advisory and vendor advisories for fixed versions or official guidance.
  • Temporarily restrict untrusted Markdown parsing in internet-facing workflows where practical.
  • Apply resource controls around Markdown rendering services where the platform supports them.
  • Prioritize dependency updates once an official patched package is confirmed.

Validation and detection

  • Review dependency manifests, lockfiles, and runtime package inventories for affected Mistune versions.
  • Map features that parse user-supplied Markdown, including comments, tickets, CMS content, and uploads.
  • Check Red Hat VEX or vendor status if Mistune is consumed through distribution packages.
  • Confirm remediation by verifying the installed version is outside the affected range per vendor guidance.
Prepared
Confidence
high
Sources
7

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

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ATT&CK lookup starting points

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cwe · low confidence lookup

CWE-1333: Exact CWE lookup

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cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2026-33079 mapping review

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
High
CVSS
8.7 (4.0)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

2CVSS vectors
5Timeline events
2ADP providers
6Source links

SSVC decision data

CISA-ADPCISA Coordinator
Timestamp
Version
2.0.3
Exploitation: pocAutomatable: yesTechnical Impact: partial

CVSS vector scores

2 official scores

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
8.7CVSS 4.0HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:NGitHub_M
7.5CVSS 3.1HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H3.93.6redhat-SADP

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 4.0 score

8.7High
CVSS 4.0 vector shape for CVE-2026-33079Attack VectorAttack ComplexityAttack RequirementsPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionVS ConfidentialityVS IntegrityVS AvailabilitySS ConfidentialitySS IntegritySS Availability

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Attack Requirements
NonePresent
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NonePassiveActive
VS Confidentiality
HighLowNone
VS Integrity
HighLowNone
VS Availability
HighLowNone
SS Confidentiality
HighLowNone
SS Integrity
HighLowNone
SS Availability
HighLowNone

Vulnerability timeline

Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.

  1. CVE reservedCVE Program

    The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.

  2. ADP timelineredhat-SADP

    Made public.

  3. CVE publishedCVE Program

    The CVE record was published.

  4. ADP timelineredhat-SADP

    Reported to Red Hat.

  5. CVE updatedCVE Program

    The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.

ADP provider summaries

CISA-ADPCISA ADP Vulnrichment
other:ssvc
redhat-SADPmistune: Mistune: Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) via crafted Markdown input
other:Red Hat severity ratingcvssV3_1
  • 2026-05-06T18:01:13.818Z: Reported to Red Hat.
  • 2026-05-06T17:25:09.026Z: Made public.

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
lepturemistune>=3.0.0a1, <= 3.2.0Listed
Weakness

CWE details

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.

CWE-1333 · source CWE mapping

Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity

Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.