Vulnerability · Published Jan 24, 2023 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2023-22486cmark-gfm Quadratic complexity bug in handle_close_bracket may lead to a denial of service

Low 3.5

In plain English

A low-severity uncontrolled resource consumption in cmark-gfm from github. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 1.1% (higher than 66% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)3.5Low
Exploit odds (30 days)1.1%top 33.7% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: poc
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

cmark-gfm is GitHub's fork of cmark, a CommonMark parsing and rendering library and program in C. Versions prior to 0.29.0.gfm.7 contain a polynomial time complexity issue in handle_close_bracket that may lead to unbounded resource exhaustion and subsequent denial of service. This vulnerability has been patched in 0.29.0.gfm.7.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Alpine:v3.20cmark0.30.3-r0ALPINE-CVE-2023-22486
Alpine:v3.21cmark0.30.3-r0ALPINE-CVE-2023-22486
Alpine:v3.22cmark0.30.3-r0ALPINE-CVE-2023-22486
Alpine:v3.23cmark0.30.3-r0ALPINE-CVE-2023-22486
Alpine:v3.24cmark0.30.3-r0ALPINE-CVE-2023-22486
Debian:12cmark-gfmno fix listedDEBIAN-CVE-2023-22486
Debian:13cmark-gfm0.29.0.gfm.13-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-22486
Debian:14cmark-gfm0.29.0.gfm.13-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-22486
Debian:12python-cmarkgfmno fix listedDEBIAN-CVE-2023-22486
Debian:13python-cmarkgfm2024.11.20-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-22486
Debian:14python-cmarkgfm2024.11.20-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-22486
Debian:12r-cran-commonmarkno fix listedDEBIAN-CVE-2023-22486
Debian:13r-cran-commonmark1.9.0-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-22486
Debian:14r-cran-commonmark1.9.0-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-22486
Debian:12ruby-commonmarkerno fix listedDEBIAN-CVE-2023-22486
Debian:13ruby-commonmarker0.23.10-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-22486
Debian:14ruby-commonmarker0.23.10-1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-22486
Ubuntu:22.04:LTScmarkno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-22486
Ubuntu:24.04:LTScmarkno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-22486
Ubuntu:25.10cmarkno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-22486
Ubuntu:26.04:LTScmarkno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-22486
Ubuntu:26.10cmarkno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-22486

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
github cmark-gfm < 0.29.0.gfm.7

Weakness: CWE-400, CWE-407 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

References