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TI-2026-38511 Aliases CVE-2026-53429

Unbounded native memory leak in mdex escaped-tag rendering enables unauthenticated denial of service

Priority MEDIUM 64CWE-401Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Attack requirements
None
Impact type
Denial of service
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
None · None · High
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-401.

Summary

Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in leandrocp mdex and mdex_native allows an attacker who controls a rendered document to cause a denial of service through unbounded native memory exhaustion. The native rendering code permanently leaks memory when rendering a document that contains escaped-tag nodes. The conversion of each %MDEx.EscapedTag{} node into its native representation (From<ExEscapedTag> for NodeValue in the Rust NIF) calls Box::leak on the caller-supplied literal string, which surrenders the backing allocation so that it lives for the entire lifetime of the operating system process and is never freed. Both the byte length of each literal and the number of escaped-tag nodes in a document are attacker-controlled, and there is no size cap, rate limit, or string interning on this path. Every render of a document containing escaped-tag nodes therefore leaks literal_size x node_count bytes that can never be reclaimed, and repeated renders accumulate without bound. Rendering reaches this path through the public MDEx.to_html/1 entry point and any other API that renders a supplied %MDEx.Document{}. Any application that uses mdex (or mdex_native directly) to render documents derived from user-supplied content is affected. Because the leaked memory is never reclaimed for the life of the BEAM process, an attacker can drive resident memory upward without limit until the node exhausts memory and crashes, taking down every process on it. The vulnerable native code originally shipped inside mdex (in native/comrak_nif/src/types/document.rs) and was later extracted into the separate mdex_native package (native/mdex_native_nif/src/types/document.rs), where it remains unpatched. This issue affects mdex from 0.11.0 before 0.12.3, and mdex_native from 0.1.0 before 0.2.3.

Why it matters now

Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.0019 8th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed mdex (leandrocp): 0.12.3mdex_native (leandrocp): 0.2.3

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
Poc
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
leandrocpmdex0.11.0 to before 0.12.30.12.3Patch availableCNA
leandrocpmdex_native0.1.0 to before 0.2.30.2.3Patch availableCNA
  • mdex Vendorleandrocp Affected 0.11.0 to before 0.12.3 Fixed in 0.12.3 Patch available CNA
  • mdex_native Vendorleandrocp Affected 0.1.0 to before 0.2.3 Fixed in 0.2.3 Patch available CNA

CPE names CNA · 2

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:leandrocp:mdex:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*——leandrocp
cpe:2.3:a:leandrocp:mdex_native:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*——leandrocp
  • cpe:2.3:a:leandrocp:mdex:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·leandrocp
  • cpe:2.3:a:leandrocp:mdex_native:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·leandrocp

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA mdex (leandrocp) Fixed in 0.12.3
  • Fix · CNA mdex_native (leandrocp) Fixed in 0.2.3

Fixed in the same release

Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.

  • Release ·

    leandrocp mdex, mdex_native 0.12.3, 0.2.3, 6ed94d905f97af188323f042698ae841c02293b4

    4 records Highest priority Priority MEDIUM 2 MEDIUM, 2 LOW

    Other records, highest priority first

    • TI-2026-39661 Uncontrolled recursion over deeply nested Markdown crashes the BEAM in mdexPriority MEDIUM 64
    • TI-2026-38510 Unbounded memory allocation in highlight_lines range expansion in mdexPriority LOW 30
    • TI-2026-38509 Cross-site scripting in MDEx via unescaped highlight_lines_class code-fence attributePriority LOW 13

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-53429

References

  • TI-2026-39661 Uncontrolled recursion over deeply nested Markdown crashes the BEAM in mdex CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 6.9
  • TI-2026-39662 Unsanitized URL schemes in MDEx Quill Delta output allow javascript: injection (XSS) CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 5.1
  • TI-2026-38508 Atom-table exhaustion denial-of-service via JSON parse_document in MDEx CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.2
  • TI-2026-38510 Unbounded memory allocation in highlight_lines range expansion in mdex CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 6.9
  • TI-2026-38509 Cross-site scripting in MDEx via unescaped highlight_lines_class code-fence attribute CVSS 4.0LOW 2.3

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences