VulnerabilityPublished 19 Sep 2025

CVE-2025-59717: @digitalocean/do-markdownit · Type Confusion

Affects @digitalocean/do-markdownitSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.4 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 12:55 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.4Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 32% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: Low
Integrity: Low
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 19 Sep 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
DigitalOcean @digitalocean/do-markdownit	Affected =0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-59717, European organizations should first audit their software dependencies to identify usage of the @digitalocean/do-markdownit package, especially versions up to 1.16.1. Until an official patch is released, organizations should enforce strict type checking on configuration parameters allowedClasses and allowedEnvironments, ensuring they are always arrays rather than strings. This can be done by implementing validation logic in the application code that wraps or configures the Markdown parser. Additionally, input sanitization and output encoding should be strengthened around Markdown content rendering to prevent injection attacks. Monitoring and logging of Markdown processing errors or anomalies can help detect exploitation attempts. Organizations should subscribe to DigitalOcean and npm security advisories for timely patch releases and apply updates promptly. Where feasible, consider isolating Markdown rendering processes or using alternative libraries with no known vulnerabilities. Finally, conduct security testing focusing on Markdown input handling to identify potential exploitation paths.

Description

In the @digitalocean/do-markdownit package through 1.16.1 (in npm), the callout and fence_environment plugins perform .includes substring matching if allowedClasses or allowedEnvironments is a string (instead of an array).

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-59717 depends on the extent to which they use the @digitalocean/do-markdownit package or dependent software in their web applications, content management systems, or developer tools. Exploitation could allow attackers to bypass content restrictions, potentially injecting malicious Markdown that could lead to cross-site scripting (XSS), information disclosure, or content integrity violations. This is particularly concerning for organizations handling sensitive data or providing public-facing documentation and collaboration platforms. The vulnerability could undermine trust in digital content, lead to data leakage, or facilitate further attacks leveraging manipulated Markdown rendering. Given the medium severity and the lack of authentication requirements, attackers could exploit this vulnerability at scale if the package is widely deployed. European entities in sectors such as finance, healthcare, and government, which often use DigitalOcean infrastructure or npm-based tools, may face increased risk. Additionally, regulatory frameworks like GDPR emphasize data integrity and confidentiality, so exploitation could have compliance implications.

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 19 Sep 2025, 03:47 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-843

Technical details

References

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