Vulnerability · Published Mar 25, 2024 · Assigned by GitHub_M
CVE-2024-28244KaTeX's maxExpand bypassed by Unicode sub/superscripts
Medium 6.5
In plain English
A medium-severity security flaw in KaTeX from KaTeX. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 2.2% (higher than 82% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
KaTeX is a JavaScript library for TeX math rendering on the web. KaTeX users who render untrusted mathematical expressions could encounter malicious input using `\def` or `\newcommand` that causes a near-infinite loop, despite setting `maxExpand` to avoid such loops. KaTeX supports an option named maxExpand which aims to prevent infinitely recursive macros from consuming all available memory and/or triggering a stack overflow error. Unfortunately, support for "Unicode (sub|super)script characters" allows an attacker to bypass this limit. Each sub/superscript group instantiated a separate Parser with its own limit on macro executions, without inheriting the current count of macro executions from its parent. This has been corrected in KaTeX v0.16.10.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian:12 | node-katex | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2024-28244 |
| Debian:13 | node-katex | 0.16.10+~cs6.1.0-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2024-28244 |
| Debian:14 | node-katex | 0.16.10+~cs6.1.0-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2024-28244 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | node-katex | 0.16.10+~cs6.1.0-2 | UBUNTU-CVE-2024-28244 |
| npm | katex | 0.16.10 | GHSA-cvr6-37gx-v8wc |
Affected products (as reported)
Weakness: CWE-674 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
References
- https://github.com/KaTeX/KaTeX/security/advisories/GHSA-cvr6-37gx-v8wc x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/KaTeX/KaTeX/commit/085e21b5da05414efefa932570e7201a7c70e5b2 x_refsource_MISC