CVE-2026-54743Lemmy: Stored XSS via markdown image alt-text in lemmy-ui html5-embed

Lemmy is a link aggregator and forum for the fediverse. Prior to lemmy-ui 0.19.19-beta.1, LemmyNet/lemmy-ui renders Markdown in src/shared/markdown.ts for post bodies, comment bodies, private messages, and community and site sidebars through mdToHtml, which returns a raw __html object that Inferno injects without a sanitizer pass. setupMarkdown configures html as false but registers markdown-it-html5-embed@1.0.0 with useImageSyntax enabled, so an image targeting video media becomes a video element whose fallback incorporates the image alt text through unescaped string replacement. The html setting does not apply to plugin-generated output, allowing crafted alt text to reach the DOM as live HTML in contexts that do not use mdToHtmlNoImages. An approved member or a remote federated instance can store such content, and a viewer who renders it may execute JavaScript in the lemmy-ui origin, exposing the viewer's session and authenticated actions. The advisory notes that Content Security Policy prevents the described exploit in production, but also states that the tested default self-hosted deployment serves no Content-Security-Policy. This issue is fixed in lemmy-ui version 0.19.19-beta.1.

CVSS

6.4 MEDIUM (v4.0, CNA)CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N

Weakness (CWE)

CWE-79

Known exploited

Not in CISA's KEV catalog

EPSS (exploitation in the next 30 days)

Not loaded for this CVE

Assigned by

GitHub_M

NVD analysis

Deferred

Record last updated

Aug 21, 2026

First seen by InfoSec Signals

Oct 9, 2026

The CVE record on cve.org · NVD's entry

The CVE record is authoritative. Products marked “from the name” were identified from the CNA's free-text names, not a CPE, and are matched less certainly. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.