CVE-2026-126190: Soup Sieve · Polynomial-time denial of service in the descendant combinator
Affects aqtinstallSource GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High · fixed in 4.0 : patch aqtinstall soon.
Data as of 13 Nov 2026, 21:31 UTC
Thin evidence
One scorer or none| CNA (GitHub_M) | CVSS 3.1 | 7.5 |
|---|
- Patch
- Available – fixed in 4.0
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 12 Nov 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: 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 13 Nov 2026.
What to do
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
Homebrewaqtinstallpkg:brew/aqtinstallOther 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
Upgrade to Soup Sieve version 4.0 or later, where the issue is fixed by caching match results to ensure linear-time complexity. If upgrading is not possible, reduce the use of descendant combinators in selectors on untrusted input, prefer child combinators (`a > b`), limit document size and nesting depth, and consider running selector operations with time limits or in isolated worker processes. Avoid using selectors compiled with the `NOCACHE` flag on untrusted input as they retain the vulnerable behavior.
Description
Soup Sieve versions starting from 3.2.0 are vulnerable to a polynomial-time denial of service (DoS) via selectors using descendant combinators. The matching time grows polynomially with document nesting depth, causing excessive CPU usage on deeply nested untrusted HTML or XML inputs. This issue is fixed in version 4.0 by caching intermediate matching results, reducing complexity to linear time.
References
- github.com/facelessuser/soupsieve/security/advisories/GHSA-mmhr-3c5m-f64f (opens in a new tab)
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-126190 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/facelessuser/soupsieve/pull/351 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/facelessuser/soupsieve/commit/ff1a5ce7e5addc31626d7b6053511fecdb4f6320 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/facelessuser/soupsieve (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/facelessuser/soupsieve/releases/tag/4.0 (opens in a new tab)