ratex-parser panics on `\verb` with a multibyte delimiter (UTF-8 byte-boundary slice)
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- 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 and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-248.
Summary
RaTeX is a KaTeX-compatible math rendering engine written in Rust. Prior to version 0.1.11, the public parser entrypoint `ratex_parser::parse(&str)` panics on the 9-byte input `\verbéxé` (i.e. `\verb` followed by the non-ASCII delimiter `é`). When handling a `\verb` command, the parser slices the verbatim argument with byte indices (`arg[1..arg.len() - 1]`); if the delimiter character is multibyte UTF-8, index `1` lands inside that character and Rust panics with *“byte index 1 is not a char boundary”*. Because RaTeX’s release profile sets `panic = "abort"` (`Cargo.toml:48`), the panic aborts the entire process — not just the current request/thread — making this a hard denial of service for any service that renders untrusted LaTeX. Version 0.1.11 fixes the issue.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| erweixin | RaTeX | before 0.1.11 | 0.1.11 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | ratex-parser (crates.io) | before 0.1.11 | 0.1.11 | Patch available | GHSA-4hgp-59h5-gvrj |
- RaTeX Vendorerweixin Affected before 0.1.11 Fixed in 0.1.11 Patch available CNA
- ratex-parser (crates.io) Vendor— Affected before 0.1.11 Fixed in 0.1.11 Patch available GHSA-4hgp-59h5-gvrj
Remediation
- Fix · CNA RaTeX (erweixin) Fixed in 0.1.11
- Fix · GHSA-4hgp-59h5-gvrj ratex-parser (crates.io) Fixed in 0.1.11 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-53530
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-4hgp-59h5-gvrj
References
More erweixin vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-38604 ratex-parser has unbounded parser recursion that leads to stack overflow (process abort) CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 6.9
Sources
- CVE-2026-53530 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-53530 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-4hgp-59h5-gvrj · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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