XSS in Rust-Lang Mdbook

CVE-2020-26297

mdBook is a utility to create modern online books from Markdown files and is written in Rust. In mdBook before version 0.4.5, there is a vulnerability affecting the search feature of mdBook, which could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary JavaScript code on the page. The search feature of mdBook (introduced in version 0.1.4) was affected by a cross site scripting vulnerability that allowed an attacker to execute arbitrary JavaScript code on an user's browser by tricking the user into typing a malicious search query, or tricking the user into clicking a link to the search page with the malicious search query prefilled. mdBook 0.4.5 fixes the vulnerability by properly escaping the search query. Owners of websites built with mdBook have to upgrade to mdBook 0.4.5 or greater and rebuild their website contents with it.

Vulnerability class: XSS (Cross-Site Scripting)

EPSS: 0.013 (66.4th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 8.2 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N.

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-26297?
CVE-2020-26297 is a high-severity vulnerability in Rust-Lang Mdbook, classified under Cross-site Scripting. CVSS score: 8.2/10. Published 2021-01-04.
How severe is CVE-2020-26297?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.2 out of 10.
Is CVE-2020-26297 known to be exploited?
5 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.