CVE-2026-59711: showdown metadata title handling allows cross-site scripting
Affects showdownSource GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.1 Medium.
Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 13:47 UTC
- EPSS
- 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 13% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:NExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 6 Jul 2026
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.
What to do
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
npmshowdownpkg:npm/showdownOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in– |
Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.
AI-suggested
Until a fix is available, users should avoid enabling the completeHTMLDocument option or sanitize markdown frontmatter metadata to prevent injection of unescaped characters.
Description
Showdown has a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in how it handles metadata titles when the completeHTMLDocument option is enabled. Unescaped less-than and greater-than characters in markdown frontmatter metadata are injected directly into HTML title tags, allowing arbitrary HTML and JavaScript injection. This affects all versions up to and including 2.1.0. The vulnerability is rated medium severity with a CVSS score of 6.1.
References
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-59711 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/showdownjs/showdown/issues/1047 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/showdownjs/showdown (opens in a new tab)
- vulncheck.com/advisories/showdown-cross-site-scripting-via-unescaped-metadata-title-in-completehtmldocument (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/showdownjs/showdown/commit/184a3e4e97f90e075c4512f2c4c06dcf655e91b7 (opens in a new tab)